Safeguarding long-term financial sustainability while being responsive to passenger needs remains a central commitment under the programme for Government. Achieving this requires a careful balance between delivering high-quality reliable services and ensuring that the network is adequately resourced to meet growing demand. Passenger numbers have continued to rise in recent years, with a record-breaking 363.5 million journeys undertaken just last year. As the statutory body responsible for regulating fares across se…

Everything will be considered in the budgetary deliberations for next year. As the Deputy knows, all deliberations between our Department and the various agencies under it are subject to a thorough assessment in terms of their service provision, cost and requirements. There is a strong commitment to and focus on ensuring that value, fairness and accessibility for all passengers is achieved. Looking at what we have done, we have made public transport accessible for people through the young adult card, the PSO uplift…

I think the Deputy has raised this matter before. The important point I would make is that we are committed as a Government to maintaining a fare strategy that is fair and equitable. We are committed to helping to ensure that the pricing structure supports social inclusion and the modal shift, whether it is in Cork, Galway, Dublin or Offaly. It does not matter where. For us, our public transport provision is very important. If we look at the comparison to Europe, the farebox recovery average stands at 38% compared …

Delays in the entry into service of new buses are very much regrettable. However, I must emphasise that the storing of buses while we deploy charging infrastructure is preferable to deferring their purchase in the first place until we have a charger available for every bus. If an alternative approach had been adopted where buses were only purchased after charging infrastructure was installed to ensure no delay in fleet absorption, the cost of purchasing fleet would have significantly escalated in recent years due t…

I will have the Department communicate with Deputy Boland. I take the point she makes and it is a very fair point. The overarching point is we must be conscious of spending public money and I take her point on both.

That is unfair. That is not fair to him. That is cheap.

It is not fair.

Ministers from the Department of Transport are here regularly. I am here regularly as a Minister of State at the Department.

The Department is represented here.

He has been in the House.

I could drive the bus nearly.

I would try my best.

I would meet the Deputy any time.

The Deputy never came to me once.

I thank all the Members for their contributions. It is incumbent on all of us that we would encourage people to use public transport. Based on the debate tonight, some of the suggestions and solutions from the contributions are ways in which we can enhance our public transport offering but also attract more people to partake in public transport. I found the debate interesting and invigorating. A bit like the coffee, it was frank and honest, and we got the good and the bad. It was without the milk and without the su…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Transport, pursuant to Standing Orders 103 and 188.

The Deputy heard from the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, the last day. He is pressing the recurring button the whole time.

I was there last week.

I welcome the students from Fermoy and their teachers. The summer holidays are ag teacht. Go n-éirí leo. I thank Deputy McCarthy for this very important question. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I are working together in the context of the community services programme, which supports 453 services nationally through 434 community organisations to provide local social, economic and environmental services through a social enterprise model, with a budget of around €59.4 million. The requirement placed on organisatio…

The Deputy is absolutely right. All of us, in particular, the Minister and I, accept there is a responsibility, in terms of accountability and transparency, on organisations in receipt of public money. In saying that, if putting an onus and a financial burden on small community groups and organisations that get grants to be compliant with accounting procedures results in them spending a significant proportion of their grant on meeting that requirement, it defies the purpose of the grant scheme and the funding suppo…