Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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83. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to ensure better public transport connections between villages and towns in rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22799/25]

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I think the Deputy will agree with me when I say that 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, and approximately 600,000 people have access to new and enhanced bus services.

61 new connections have been provided to healthcare facilities, 41 new connections to higher education facilities and 71 of the new and enhanced services provide connections with rail 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) in 2024. 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.

2025 is the fourth year of the five-year Connecting Ireland plan and more new and enhanced bus services throughout rural Ireland are planned for 2025.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his proposals to promote, extend and increase usage of the Leap visitor card; and if he will report on its level of usage to date. [22876/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts. The NTA also has responsibility for integrated ticketing, which it carries out through the Leap Card system.

The NTA has introduced a range of excellent value fares in the Dublin area that are currently being promoted to all customers including visitors. All adult Leap Card users including visitors to Dublin benefit from a 90 minute fare for just €2. Also Leap Card fares are now capped in Zone 1 at just €6 per day or €24 for a week of travel. NTA is focusing on promoting these fares to all customers and is not planning to specifically promote the Leap Visitor Card. There have been approximately 1.3 million trips taken using Leap Visitor Cards so far this year which is a relatively small portion of total public transport trips which is close to 1 million trips per day on average.

In light of the NTA's responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.