I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport pursuant to Standing Orders 103 and 188.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to introduce the Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 for the consideration of the House. As Deputies will be aware, the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, as originally enacted, provided for the establishment of the Dublin Transport Authority, DTA, and set out its role and functions to ensure the provision of an integrated transport system in the greater Dublin area, GDA, including the procurement of public transport infrastructure and s…

It is not. I answered the Deputy in a parliamentary question recently.

That is not the case.

It is done.

The secondary legislation was signed last week.

Just read my press releases.

The Deputy could have saved himself three and a half minutes.

No.

They never do.

Never.

I am speaking on behalf of the Government on the Bill. I thank Deputy Daly for tabling it. I will speak to the legislation and explain the rationale as to why we are opposing it, which we are doing on the basis that the CRU already holds significant existing powers to monitor, report and regulate gas and electricity suppliers. Additionally, as the Deputies will be aware, a review of the comprehensive suite of legislation underpinning the work of the CRU has already been commenced by Government. This is in line with…

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important matter. Any death on our roads is one too many. I am always conscious when talking about numbers that behind these numbers are people and families. We have to continue working to improve road safety. One element of it is the continued investment in our roads. Physical infrastructure is critical, as is the safety framework. The current framework for road safety is set out in the Government’s fifth road safety strategy, which has the target of reducing road deaths …

Undoubtedly, we have seen an increase over the last number of years from a lower base. When you compare Ireland to the rest of Europe, the statistics - this is not to mean the road fatalities themselves - compare favourably and we are still in the upper quartile in relation to prevention of road deaths and the number of road deaths. Again, I say this on the basis that I do not like talking about numbers because there are people behind them. On safety cameras, 390 new safety camera zones became operational from 1 Ja…

Whatever level of enforcement is there, personal responsibility really needs to be brought to the fore. We all agree on that. There is only so much a Government can do. We need to do more - I am with the Deputy on that - but personal responsibility is critical.

The RSA is very well resourced to carry out the functions it is charged with. Splitting up the agency would have a detrimental effect. It would take too long. It needs to focus on road safety and education. NCT and driver testing are also important. That feeds into the road safety piece. I will counter the Deputy on one particular thing he said. Driver behaviour and personal responsibility are critical. We all want to see more gardaí enforcing this. Measures have been taken around specific bank holiday weekends whe…

This is an important area and we have to look to electrify it. Heavy goods vehicles is one of the more challenging areas to electrify. We are committed to transitioning to a low-carbon economy by 2050. The transport sector has a significant role to play in that. The decarbonisation of heavy duty vehicles will be a key mechanism in achieving this objective within the sector. To promote the decarbonisation of HDVs, we launched the alternatively fuelled heavy duty vehicle purchase grant scheme in March 2021. That sche…

It is a fair point. The road transport support scheme is not a subsidy. It is a cost reduction measure and a viability measure for our supply chain. I do not see it as a fossil fuel grant or incentive for the use of fossil fuel. That said, it is clear the haulage sector in particular and others in the agriculture sector are heavily dependent on fossil fuel, especially heavy goods vehicles. A lot of white van vehicles have changed to EVs and hybrids. It is down to the weight carried. We had 162 electric HGVs registe…

The Deputy's point is well made. In the private fleet and private cars, there is a substantial increase in EV registrations. There are over 230,000 EVs on our roads. In the first quarter of this year, there was a significant increase with about 40% of all cars purchased being EVs. Heavy goods vehicles is a more complex area. Confidence needs to be instilled in the sector that there are alternatives. The Deputy is right that the level of drawdown is low. The scheme was reworked at the end of 2024. It is kept under r…

I thank the Deputy for the question. As she knows, essential maintenance is being carried out and there is inconvenience for people, but I will put this in context. The majority of maintenance works on the rail network take place overnight or in a way that will see little or no disruption to services. In some instances, however, this disruption is unfortunately unavoidable, such as for the upcoming May and June bank holiday weekends. I genuinely understand that while it is frustrating, it is an essential part of ma…