A Greenpeace report published today has found that Dublin is the capital with the least affordable and most complicated ticketing system in all of Europe. Luxembourg, Tallinn and Valletta, where public transport is free, are rated top. Has the Minister considered the impact that including free access to car library schemes as part of free public transport would have on reducing private car ownership and use and was this taken into account in the Ernst & Young Global Limited report?

Could I politely suggest that the Green Party Minister might pay more attention to what Greenpeace has to say rather than paying corporate accountancy firms to undermine the importance of free public transport?

There have been significant initiatives in the lifetime of the Government to improve public transport, particularly its affordability. There was a 20% reduction for all users and a 60% reduction for those under 24. In Dublin, 90-minute fares were introduced, so you can go from one public transport mode to another with a single fare. Only last week, new fare structures were introduced that recognise the system was overly complicated and that there were inequities in the scheme. The new fare structure is designed to improve the overall provision. There are significant changes coming and we will have to introduce further changes, many of which will include shared mobility initiatives, which have a key role.

We would need more precise details on the free car access scheme the Deputy proposes. I will welcome those details when he responds to me. Shared transport is of increasing importance as a strategy in our effort to reduce emissions from transport and is critical in reducing our dependency on a car-based system. Last year, the Government approved the publication of the new sustainable mobility policy that noted the trend toward shared mobility globally and also noted this trend was evident in Irish cities, through shared car and bike schemes already in operation.

My Department is currently exploring the development of shared mobility options, including an e-mobility hub model for the five cities, consisting of charging infrastructure for shared electric mobility solutions such as e-bikes and e-scooters, in addition to car clubs operating electric vehicles, EVs, for short-term hire. The core idea of the hub is that it provides readily accessible, emissions-free transport options to the public, making it easier for people to make the kinds of journeys that can help us to achieve our climate and transport objectives.

A report commissioned by the National Transport Authority, NTA, examines the impact of free fares on public transport. It concludes that funding a free public transport system would cost an additional €540 million in Exchequer funding per annum at a minimum. Free public transport would see a reduction in walking and cycling and a reduction in car travel of only 1%. The NTA report is the latter one to which the Deputy referred.

That report was effectively rigged. It managed to come up with a car usage reduction figure of 1% by running simulated modelling based on current trends across the country, where public transport is mainly poor or non-existent. Most car users do not have access to public transport alternatives, meaning that making public transport free would not change their car usage. The point, however, is that there does not have to be a choice between expanding access to public transport and making public transport free; we need to do both. That is precisely where the idea of a shared car or hourly car library scheme comes in. There are journeys that people take occasionally that are not easy to take on public transport, therefore requiring the use of a car. At the moment, the main choice people have is to own a car, an environmentally costly thing to build and an expensive thing to run. It makes much more sense to have cars available on a common basis, where possible. There are private schemes of this kind, such as that of GoCar, but such a scheme should be part of the public offering. The Ernst & Young report did not take this into account and assumed that if someone needed to take a private car journey occasionally, he or she would need to own a car.

I am keen to get the details. I used to do a lot of hitching over the years. Is that what the Deputy is talking about? Is it a hitching scheme?

No. It would be like using GoCar but through a public system.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is currently undertaking a major review of its property footprint in Washington and London. The review is anchored in the Government’s Global Ireland initiative which commits to double the scope and impact of Ireland’s global footprint by 2025. The projects have been recognised as Strategic Investment Priorities under the National Development Plan 2021-2030

The aim of the review is to identify suitable premises for these key bilateral missions that will provide safe, secure and sustainable working spaces; and serve as representational assets that project a positive image of Ireland and enhance delivery of our foreign policy objectives.

As part of this exercise, assessments of existing premises - including building code compliance assessments – have been undertaken in parallel with a review of the respective commercial property markets.

This assessment identified the need for upgrade works to mechanical and electrical systems to enhance fire, health and safety compliance as well as minor repairs to the building exterior of our Embassy in Washington. These remedial works were carried out during 2022. No further major refurbishment works are currently scheduled.

No refurbishment works were carried out on the Embassy of Ireland in London during 2022 or to date in 2023. There are no refurbishment works currently scheduled to commence.

The driver would have access to the car and get to use it. The driver would be an ordinary householder.

My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR, Naturalisation or Post Nuptial Citizenship.

Demand for this service increased significantly as a result of the Brexit vote in the UK. The service was also impacted by necessary Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 and the unprecedented demand for passports seen in 2022.

As a result of the significant extra resources deployed by the Passport Service to FBR processing over the past 8 months, the processing time has now been reduced to the normal requirement of between 6 and 9 months. Applications which require further supporting documents will take longer to process.

Foreign Birth Registration, by its nature, is a detailed and complex process, often involving official documentation relating to three generations and issued by several jurisdictions. Such documents take considerable time to validate.

There are currently 24,966 FBR applications for which supporting documents have been received and which are being processed by the Passport Service. There are a further 11,689 FBR applications for which the Passport Service are awaiting the submission of supporting documentation from the applicant.

The number of full-time equivalent staff working in Foreign Birth Registration in the Passport Service is set out below by grade, in tabular form.

The only aspect of Ireland's public transport ticketing system that the Greenpeace report praises is free public transport for people over 66, people with disabilities and carers. It states that, apart from this, there are no best-practice elements in the ticketing system. It finds that Dublin has the second most expensive daily public transport costs in Europe, second only to London, which of course has a much better transport system. The report praises free public transport and climate tickets as some of the most popular policy interventions to tackle the climate crisis. It states that if even 5% of car trips were shifted to public transport throughout the EU, oil demand could be reduced by around 7.9 million tonnes. We can already see what impact free public transport would have from the large increase in public transport use that was a consequence of the 20% reduction in fares last year and the 50% reduction for young people. The bottom line is that we do not have to choose between investing in expanding access to public transport and making public transport free. We will have a cumulative surplus of €65 billion over the next five years. This is what we need to do for the climate and to address the cost-of-living crisis.

A certain amount-----

Not for each individual.

Just some individuals.

No, not to any individual. They would be collective, for a library.

So everyone would have a free car.

With regard to the specific application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service has issued a passport to the applicant.

Question No. 43 answered with Question No. 29.