As previously noted, the boarding-out scheme facilitates older people to remain in their communities, which is important, where their level of care or needs do not require them to enter residential care facilities. It is all about getting some support locally. While the use of the boarding-out scheme by the HSE has traditionally been small, the potential of the scheme merits consideration and further exploration. I acknowledge that it may benefit from measures to allow for greater flexibility in the payment mechani…

I thank Senator Crowe for the question. It is an issue which we have discussed within the Department. It is an important issue because, for me, the experience of a passenger on public transport is key to getting them to repeat using it and trying to reduce the number of cars. I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services, su…

As I have said, the Department has engaged with the NTA and Iarnród Éireann on the matter of restoring catering services on intercity services and, where possible, services have been restored, with catering now available on the Belfast and Cork lines. At present, due to funding constraints, there are no plans to reintroduce catering services on all other rail lines as funding is currently focused on other measures such as improving frequency, reliability and keeping fares low. While it has been possible to restore …

I apologise as well on behalf of the Department. I do not know what happened. I was chosen today to do Front Bench cover, but it is unacceptable that the Senator cannot do her job to raise an issue with the Government. I apologise on behalf of the Government. I hope she gets priority number one at the next Commencement Matters session.

I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this matter. The new programme for Government acknowledges "that good connectivity within the country ... is essential to foster continued economic growth, for communities, and our tourism industry". We have committed to investing in all road projects in the current national development plan, NDP, and to work on improving infrastructure to key tourism spots, making travel more convenient for visitors. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer fu…

I have been to Killarney as well, like most people in Ireland, on a number of occasions and had good memories coming away from it. The N22 project is included in the NDP, and has received a significant funding allocation for 2025. As I said, approximately €502 million of Exchequer capital funds was provided to TII for national roads this year. In line with the NDP and Government policy, TII sought to allocate national road funding to local authorities in a manner which seeks to achieve the following key outcomes: p…

First of all, I am shocked to hear that girls and boys have to change their clothes out in the open. It is fairly archaic and dangerous. The Government recognises the important role that community centres play in community life in Ireland, particularly in bringing people together and engaging with those who may be marginalised or disadvantaged. Over the past four years, the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht has prioritised the development and enhancement of community centres across the…

I know Deputy Mitchell said I had two or three lines in relation to Kilmore. Deputy Ellis has hit the nail on the head. If an application comes in to a Department, it will be dealt with. Deputy Heneghan, who is present, has spoken to me about this before. The Department cannot provide funding until an application comes in. Two application processes have been gone through and there will be further application processes. My advice, and I come from a community background myself, is to get back to the local authority a…

The Deputy has spoken to me before about this issue. I really appreciate his bringing it to light. From the outset, I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Author…

I assure the Deputy the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2025 the Department of Transport secured €658 million in funding, an increase from €613 million for 2024. This funding supports the continuation of the 20% fare reduction in PSO services, the young adult card for PSO and commercial bus services and the 90-minute rail fare un…

I thank Deputies Ó Muirí and Heneghan for raising this important issue regarding the staffing of primary schools, particularly the teacher allocation to Belgrove infant girls' school and Scoil Mhuire in Howth. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous 30 September. The primary staffing arrangements for the 2025-26 school year are set out in Circular 11/25. The staffing …

The Minister for Education and Youth is considering how best to make further progress as part of the annual budgetary process in reducing the primary pupil-teacher ratio in the context of the programme for Government. With regard to the appeal for Belgrove, the primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. I do not know if there is an appeals process to that independent board, because it meets some of the criteria, such as projected school numbers for next year. …

I thank the Deputy for the question. As she may be aware, my Department provides public service obligation, PSO, funding for socially beneficial but financially unviable public transport services across the country. In 2023, Iarnród Éireann was allocated €187 million in PSO funding by the Department, increasing to €215 million in 2024. This is expected to further rise to €265 million this year. All of this provides for an improvement to rail passenger services. The funding has enabled Iarnród Éireann to increase th…

The all-island strategic rail review undertaken by the Department of Transport in co-operation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland informs the development of rail on the island of Ireland in the coming decades up to 2050, in line with net zero targets for both jurisdictions. The review's final report was published in 2024 and sets out 32 strategic recommendations to enhance and expand the rail system. The EIB advisory services, the Department of Transport and the Department of infrastructure …

I agree with the Deputy. The important point is that the all-Ireland rail review is exactly that; it is about regional development, the cities, connecting the cities and connecting rural Ireland by public transport. When we are realising the recommendations of the review we need to ensure passengers are at the heart of it and have a good experience, so that when they take a train they will be happy to do so again. It is important that when we put in investment we put it in to serve all the island. That is why the r…

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. The Government is fully committed to tackling climate action with practical, innovative solutions that support our economy, communities and future generations. Promoting EVs is a central pillar of our strategy to reduce transport emissions, along with proposals to increase the use of active travel and public transport, reduce overall car usage and increase the mix of sustainable biofuels in the petrol and diesel fuel blends. Having an effective and reliable charging ne…

I agree that the time it takes to put these things in place is not what we would like. The EU JTF EV charging scheme provides funding to support EV infrastructure at community facilities in the just transition area in the midlands. These include community centres, public libraries, public health centres, recreational facilities and enterprise centres in counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath and Roscommon and the municipal districts of Ballinasloe, Athy, Clane-Maynooth, Carrick-on-Suir and Thurles. Ninety-thre…

I agree with the Deputy that it is not all being done as quickly as we would like. We need to expedite the process to give confidence to people who are considering buying an EV that the infrastructure will be in place and that they will be able to rely on it to get from A to B. Many things have been happening and we are coming to a point where we will see things happening on the ground. We will be working within the Department to push along the projects to ensure they will be delivered in the quickest time possible…

On behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, who will deliver the closing remarks, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, I thank Deputy O'Gorman of the Independent and Parties Technical Group for the opportunity to speak in the Dáil on the public transport experience and our plans to deliver on the programme for Government commitments. I am confident we can all agree it is essential that the Government continues to invest in the public transport network and that we be supportive of the Government'…

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the national driver test service. I will share time with the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer. By way of background, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, has statutory responsibility for the national driver test service under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006. The service has a target average wait time of ten weeks between when someone applies to sit a test and the test taking place. As Deputies are aware, however, the current wait times are far in excess of the ten w…