Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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310. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when international English language students will be granted eligibility for the young adult and student leap card. [52100/25]

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.

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.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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311. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the total cost to the Exchequer of PSO subventions to public transport providers in each of the past five years; and the estimated cost for 2025 and 2026. [52135/25]

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 statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally. This includes scheduling and timetabling, which is carried out in conjunction with the relevant transport operators — namely Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Iarnród Éireann, and Go-Ahead Ireland.

The NTA has entered into contracts with these operators and provides subvention for services that form part of the Public Service Obligation (PSO) network. The total Exchequer funding provided to the NTA for the period 2020–2024 is publicly available in the NTA’s Annual Reports & Financial Statements (which can be accessed via their website or the Oireachtas library) and the PSO allocation for 2025 is €658.442 million.

Given the NTA’s contractual arrangements and its responsibility in this area, I have also forwarded the Deputy’s question to the NTA for a direct response with a more detailed breakdown. Please advise my private office if a reply is not received within ten working days.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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312. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to ensure recent changes to the Leap Card scheme eligibility criteria does not exclude students studying English. [52145/25]

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.

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.

Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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313. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the measures he is taking to ensure that international students are given access to the student (young adult) Leap Card following recent changes to the scheme. [52146/25]

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.

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.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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314. To ask the Minister for Finance if he will address, in the Budget, the unfairness of low paid workers paying more for TaxSaver public transport tickets than higher paid workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51848/25]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, it is a longstanding practice that the Minister for Finance does not comment, in advance of the Budget, on any tax matters that might be the subject of Budget decisions.

I would note, however, that the Taxsaver scheme, as provided for in section 118(5A) of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (TCA), offers an exemption from benefit-in-kind (BIK) where an employer purchases a travel pass for one of their employees or directors, subject to certain conditionality. Under section 118B TCA, an employer and employee may also enter into a Revenue-approved salary sacrifice arrangement under which the employee agrees to sacrifice part of his or her salary in exchange for the benefit.

The scheme was implemented as tax-exempt BIK in order to keep the implementation as simple as possible and reduce administrative burden on the part of employers. However that means that, under these schemes, the qualifying benefit is exempt from income tax, PRSI and USC at whichever rate the taxpayer would otherwise be liable to pay. Although those individuals liable to tax at the higher rate will, as a result, effectively get tax relief at that rate, generally over the course of the tax year they will pay a significantly greater amount of income tax than individuals that are liable to the standard rate of tax. This is due to the progressive nature of the Irish personal income tax system.

In fact, I would note that Ireland has among the most progressive systems of taxes and social transfers of any EU or OECD country. Progressive income tax systems contribute to the redistribution of income and to the reduction of income inequality. Ireland’s income tax system generally ensures that the burden of taxation falls most heavily on those with a higher ability to pay. This means that those on lower incomes pay less income tax as a share of their income than those on higher incomes. It is my view that a broad-based, progressive income tax system, where the majority of income earners make some contribution but according to their means, is the fairest and most sustainable income tax system in the long term.