I will start by extending deepest sympathies on behalf of the Green Party to Finola and John's children, Juliana, Emily, Mary-Elizabeth and Matthew and especially to his brother, Richard, and sister, Mary, who are good friends of everyone in this House. It is a real loss for your family, more than anyone else. We remember, think about and pray for you today. I first met John Bruton when I joined this Chamber in 2002. I was sitting exactly where Deputy Seán Crowe is sitting at the moment on one of those early dazed …

Three is not a bad number. It works well. I am giving advice, maybe.

Three is the magic number, but we will see at the election. When John stepped down from here for the absolutely appropriate appointment as ambassador of the European Union to the US - what an appropriate position - there were statements in the House that day, everyone congratulating the Taoiseach at the time, Bertie Ahern, congratulating John and wishing him well. Trevor Sargent complimented him wholeheartedly that day and described him as an ideas man. I think that is exactly right. He was a man with lots of ideas…

BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, providing better bus services, not only in Dublin but also in Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick. It is the largest investment in the bus system in the history of the State, and is managed by the National Transport Authority, NTA. In Dublin, the major infrastructure element of BusConnects comprises 12 core bus corridor schemes. These corridors aim to provide more than 200 km of enhanced walking, cycling and bus route infrastructure in the …

I fully accept what the Deputy said about there being occasions when someone is left at the bus stop, the real-time information not being accurate and the bus not appearing or being full. We can never be fully satisfied with the service. We have to really improve the payments system and the online monitoring system and accelerate the provision of road space in order that we can improve bus times, and that all requires significant change. We have to be careful, however, not to ignore the reality that what is happeni…

If we take BusConnects in Dublin as an example, we have been introducing spines that are reorganising the routes and are designed to improve connectivity, and we now have to follow up with the corridors and build the physical infrastructure to improve bus times and make conditions for cycling and walking better. The evidence is that when we put in these new spines, straighten the routes and get the connectivity, that is where patronage is jumping up. There are always teething problems. I know from my area on the so…

This Government is absolutely committed to improving public transport throughout the country, as is demonstrated through the significant service and infrastructural investments in recent years as well as the various fare initiatives that have been introduced. Over recent years we have reduced average fares on all public service obligation, PSO, services by 20%, helping people with cost-of-living pressures; introduced and expanded the young adult card, reducing fares by a further 50% for young people just as they ar…

It is true we have challenges in getting bus drivers and mechanics across all networks and all bus operators. We are addressing that. Availability of mechanics is very tight. As with many of the systems in our economy, we are at full employment. It is a challenge but we are addressing that. When bus passengers feel frustrated where a bus is cancelled, there is an immediate regulatory tool to impose fines and make sure the public service standards that have been set are met. The other key element of this, to really …

For the past two years, this Government has delivered a new or enhanced rural bus service every week. The numbers have doubled in the past year, so I do not agree with Deputy Tóibín’s analysis in terms of inability to deliver new services. I also fundamentally disagree if he is saying it is acceptable that a car would be in the bus lane. It is not. That is illegal and subject to a fine and penalty points. Through some of the measures we are looking at, such as increased use of cameras and other mechanisms, we will …

The National Transport Authority's transport strategy for the greater Dublin area, which I approved early last year, sets out a framework for transport investment across the region over a 20-year period from 2022 to 2042 and provides a clear statement of transport planning policy for counties Meath, Dublin, Louth, Kildare and Wicklow. Having a transport strategy is vital to ensure we assess how the different modes can deliver for the region and how we can sequence delivery to maximise benefits and value for money. …

No.

I agree it takes us too long to build public transport projects and all projects in this State. Our planning and legal system and other elements are part of the problem. The timescale the Deputy mentioned is far too long. I understand from Iarnród Éireann that we could and should have a railway order by 2027 and can start construction after that. Construction would take three to four years. We should be aiming for the early part of the next decade - 2031 or 2032 - rather than later in the decade, as the Deputy seem…

We have just started funding the design team, which is the first thing that has to be done.

Yes, but we cannot construct without planning permission. We need a railway order. Legally, we have to get that first.

Yes, but we have to get the design first and we have set up the team to deliver that. We can go to construction once we get the railway order. There is a shortfall in funding. This is often very contentious because representatives from various constituencies come to me and ask me to fund X, Y and Z. That funding should prioritise public transport because it has been totally underfunded for the past 50 years and the car-dependent system we have created is crippling our transport system. That goes back to what the De…

Further to what I was saying a moment ago, I fully agree that we need to encourage more people to use public transport. That is why we are investing in significant service and infrastructure improvements as well as funding various fare initiatives that have been introduced in recent budgets which complement the heavily discounted fares already available for under-18s on PSO services. However, all these improvements and initiatives require significant levels of funding, which means we need to think carefully about h…

The Deputy quotes our policy from April 2021, but he should look at what has happened since then. For a student, the 50% reduction is in effect a 60% reduction because it also benefits from the wider 20% reduction. If people in college who use public transport are asked what has changed in the last few years and whether they notice that change, they say "Yes". That was delivered thanks to us and our Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael colleagues in government. It is not an insignificant change and, as I reported earlier, the…

I am very glad about the Green Party policy we introduced whereby 10% of funding is going for cycling and walking, which has never been done before. That is delivering. I would welcome the Deputy cycling down from Tallaght on the new green route, which is going to be spectacular.

We will start concluding it this year, joining up south Dublin with Dublin city centre. That is Green Party policy being delivered. It was also Green Party policy that introduced in the programme for Government the 2:1 ratio between public transport and roads in the remaining capital budget. There was nothing like that before we came into government. That is also part of what we need to. There are so many different things we need to do and so many different moving parts, but the key now is to make the political dec…

People Before Profit councillors are going to vote against it, I am told.