Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)
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385. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on the public and private financial resources required and available to support his Department’s plans to meet Ireland’s climate targets by 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19106/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Government has set ambitious decarbonisation targets for the Transport sector, with the goals of halving emissions by the end of the decade (relative to 2018 levels and in a manner that is consistent with sectoral emission ceilings adopted by Government in 2022), and achieving net zero emissions by 2050. To support achievement of these goals, the Government has provided a range of Exchequer supports. These supports include providing funding for new sustainable transport infrastructure and services, as well as grants to incentivise the adoption of low and zero emission vehicles.

The National Development Plan 2021-2030 allocated €35 billion in capital funding to the Department of Transport. The funding is towards both protection and renewal requirements as well as new infrastructure projects. The upcoming review of the National Development Plan provides an opportunity to revisit, prioritise and enhance this investment in order to achieve our climate and connectivity goals in transport, bearing in mind the potential costs of non-compliance with our EU targets both financially but also in terms of loss of competitiveness. In delivering the scale of infrastructure investment required, we are also looking to the private sector to support this transition and we are working with the likes of EIB and other financial institutions to identify options for ways of financing certain aspects of this investment programme, particularly in the context of public EV charging roll-out where commercial operators are involved. In other areas, such as public transport investment, public investment is critical to deliver the transformation required. I have set out some important aspects of this investment programme and financing assumptions below:

Public Transport

The Government is committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options to make it easier to reduce private car travel, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government has approved preliminary business cases for programmes such as BusConnects Dublin, DART+ and MetroLink, allowing them to enter the planning system. An Bord Pleanála has approved eleven of the 12 BusConnects Dublin Core Bus Corridors, with the first of the Core Bus Corridors expected to enter construction in 2025.

The Programme for Government – Securing Ireland’s Future commits to reviewing and enhancing the National Development Plan (NDP) funding envelope in 2025 to deliver on existing strategically important transport infrastructure commitments and meeting the funding needs of new or accelerated potential projects and programmes.

In relation to enhancing existing public transport, the Connecting Ireland Rural Mobility Plan has been a huge success, with over 150 new or enhanced services introduced since 2022. This means that over 240 towns and villages have been connected to the public transport network, providing connections to 61 healthcare facilities, to 41 higher education facilities and to 71 rail services. Approximately 600,000 people now have access to new and enhanced bus services.

In 2024, patronage continued to grow as TFI Local Link Regular Rural Services (RRS) carried 4.7 million passengers which is up on 2023 figures of 3.2 million, in addition to the 1.1 million passengers carried on Demand Responsive Transport (DRT). The expansion of rural bus services has brought life back into our villages, towns and urban centres, offering an accessible and sustainable alternative to travel by private car.

Funding for Rural Transport Programme has increased from €12 million in 2016 to over €57m in 2024. Under Budget 2025, the Department of Transport secured funding to support the roll-out new and enhanced bus services under the Connecting Ireland Plan.

Active Travel

The Programme for Government committed around €360 million per annum to walking and cycling across the lifetime of the Government. The vast majority of this funding is allocated to the National Transport Authority (NTA) through the Department of Transport for its Active Travel Infrastructure Programme.

The main focus of active travel investment is to support high quality walking and cycling infrastructure, for everyday trips, in villages, towns and cities, particularly in designated growth settlements, with a view to promoting the greatest potential modal shift to active travel.

Given the ramping up of activities over the last few years in the Active Travel area, the number of projects being progressed now exceeds the level of funding made available to the NTA. However, over the period 2020 – 2024 significant progress has been made on delivering active travel infrastructure, including delivery of 664 kilometres of walking infrastructure, 399 kilometres of cycling infrastructure and 291 kilometres of Greenways delivered across the country.

The area of shared mobility also has potential to include private investment, as public and private entities work together (perhaps through a publicly procured/privately operated model), to deliver shared mobility hubs and services around the country, which would encompass the opportunity for on-demand use of a range of mode types such as bikes, e-bikes, cargo bikes, e-scooters, and e-cars.

Electrification and Alternative Fuels

In relation to low and zero emission vehicles, public funds have been used to support the growing market of electric vehicles in Ireland, primarily through grant funding which defrays the cost and brings EVs towards price parity with fossil fuel ICE models.

As of 2025, Ireland is on track to meet its interim vehicle targets as set out in the Climate Action Plan of 195,000 vehicles on the road by the end of this year. The 2030 target is more challenging and is currently set at 30% of the total vehicle fleet being electric.

Although it is envisioned that further incentivisation will be required to meet this target and further increase the zero-emission market share, there are signs of a wider market shift in terms of availability of models and stronger competition, which is making EVs more affordable. When partnered with increasing performance and choice across vehicles and segments, it is possible that future public funding may be maintained at rates seen in previous years and the 2030 target may still be met, however there is also the potential for an increase in funding in order to improve the possibility of meeting those challenging targets successfully.

Private sector investment in vehicles is an entirely market-led endeavour and so resources in this respect are dependent on individual use and purchase cases.

Investment in infrastructure to date has been led by the private sector, with a number of Charge Point Operators (CPOs) having installed approximately 2,400 public charging points across the entire network. This network will be expanded further using public funding, which is set to grow significantly in the years 2025 – 2028 in order to ensure that the infrastructure targets set out in the EU Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation (AFIR) are met. The primary AFIR Target to 2030 is to have 712,000kW installed charging capacity across all public charging.

The amount of public vs private sector funding which will be required varies based on the location and nature of the commercial business case. Timing of a project may also impact costs. For example, 2026 projects may require more public funding contribution than 2029 projects will, depending on the rate of EV transition and the development of the commercial CPO market. Public investment here is focused on accelerating roll-out in a planned way.

ZEVI is working with the European Investment Bank to complete a more detailed assessment on the likely level of funding needed to meet AFIR targets and will include scenarios to test the amount of public funding which may be required should the private sector increase, decrease or maintain its current level of investment.