I thank the Deputy for his question. I am pleased that the Government has earmarked €5.1 billion for capital spending on new national roads projects from 2021 to 2030 as part of the national development plan, NDP. For the information of the House, we have commenced our review of the NDP. I will seek additional funds for the capital side of my Department. As it currently stands, a further €2.9 billion has been earmarked for the protection and renewal of the existing network. In addition, I can confirm that approximately €600 million of Exchequer capital funds were provided to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, for national roads in 2025. Kerry County Council received €10.2 million for protection and renewal of national roads and €3 million for the construction of new national roads from this overall allocation. The protection and renewal budget will allow for the progression of numerous road improvement works, such as pavement renewal and measures to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians on the national road network in Kerry. Allocations have also been provided to upgrade the N86 between Tralee and Dingle, and, as the Deputy knows, to continue the development of the N22 Farranfore to Killarney project. A number of new national roads projects, which are included in the current NDP have been delivered, including a bypass of Listowel. With regard to regional and local roads, each local authority has statutory responsibility, in accordance with the provisions of section 13 of the Roads Act, for the improvement and maintenance of their regional and local roads. Works on those roads are funded from local authorities' own resources and are supplemented by State road grants. Of these grants, the vast majority, approximately 90%, are targeted at the maintenance and renewal of the network with approximately 10% of the remaining funding invested in new roads and bridges. In 2025, Kerry County Council was allocated €33.36 million for the maintenance and improvement of their regional and local roads network, which is an increase of more than €3.2 million, or 10.7%, on its 2024 allocation. Of this, €28 million was allocated to road protection and renewal.

Sentiment score: 0.22

In respect of Listry Bridge and other specific issues in the Deputy's constituency, we will take a note as he raises them. I assure him that the figures I have given are real. There are significant increases in funding for new roads and for maintenance and renewal. I agree with him that speedy delivery is key. The funding provided for the N86 from Tralee to An Daingean is not just for fencing. A total of €1.25 million will be available in 2025 and it would want to be a very expensive fence if that were all we were doing. I assure the Deputy that is not all that we are doing. As I mentioned, we are advancing the review of the NDP and hope to have it concluded by July or early August. We will have a significant roads programme for the remainder of this decade and 2026, in particular. I can see the funding that is coming along the way. I agree that delivery is key and critical. We want those improvements delivered and our budget expended, which I predict it will be.

Sentiment score: 0.24

The LIS falls under the remit of the Minister for Rural and Community Development. It does not fall within my Department. I have given the funding figures and have used Kerry as a good example. We are looking at a 10.68% increase in funding for roads this year. There is a total allocation of €33.36 million for maintenance and improvement, which is on top of the funding for new roads. That is significant. There is always more to do. We have the plan of work programme. The Deputy might ask the engineers in Kerry what they are referring to when they say tender documents have not been submitted because a project was cut. We have not cut any projects. In fact, we must prioritise projects. Much of the work in respect of the allocations for this year was concluded late last year. We are looking at schemes and the key will be what can be delivered. We will certainly be looking at that in detail for the 2026 allocations.

Sentiment score: 0.16

I thank the Deputy for the important question. A number of Deputies have asked about national aviation policy. We are dealing with the 2015 national aviation policy, NAP. It established a policy framework for the development of the aviation sector in Ireland, which is critical. It is designed to create an environment that encourages the sector to enhance Ireland's connectivity, to foster the growth of aviation enterprise and maximise the contribution of aviation to Ireland's sustainable economic growth and development. While the principal goals of the 2015 NAP remain valid, and it continues to guide decision-making, my Department has commenced preparatory work, at my request, on a review of the NAP with a view to bringing forward a new NAP. We will be engaging with the transport committee on that policy. The review will update existing policy in the context of developments in the sector in the period since 2015. Much has changed since then. The Deputy referenced Shannon Airport, where we are seeing good growth. I agree with him that there is headroom and more capacity there. Shannon Airport can take up to 10 million passengers. In 2024, there were 2.1 million passengers. We are projecting approximately 2.21 million this year. It is also good to see significant growth in Cork Airport and all our other airports. We are seeing further growth in Ireland West Airport and the airports in Kerry and Donegal. The update of our NAP is critical. The work has commenced. There will be detailed stakeholder engagement. Importantly, there will also be engagement with transport spokespeople across the House and with the Joint Committee on Transport. There is a fair bit of work to be done and I do not expect this to be concluded this year. I want input. We need to grow connectivity. As a country, we are successful in the whole area of aviation. We need to see how we can update that further. I agree with the Deputy that the policy needs to be updated. We have started the work and I am happy to engage specifically with the Deputy on the matter.

Sentiment score: 0.24

I had a good meeting with the Shannon Airport Group. It was one of the first meetings I had when I took over as Minister. The group has raised the issue of regional airports and how it might be able to access funding. There is a passenger cap to access that funding at the moment but we are considering that. Shannon Airport can stand on its own two feet. It is doing very well. We need to encourage airlines to use the other airports. We have been clear, however, that the Government cannot direct an airline to fly out of any airport. The airports need to be competitive and hungry for business, as I know Shannon and Cork airports are. The passenger growth at Cork Airport has been significant. I might come back to the Deputy on the passenger cap during my supplementary response. We have committed to working with stakeholders to remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. That commitment was included in the programme for Government. However, that will not happen instead of anything else. We need to consider how to grow all our airports. There is capacity in Shannon and Cork airports that should be used. I have met with DAA officials, who operate Cork and Dublin airport and I have also met with Shannon representatives.

Sentiment score: 0.18

Looking at where we came from, there was 7% year-on-year growth between 2023 and 2024 in our regional airports. That growth is happening. Shannon is profitable. I do not think anybody is necessarily looking for subsidies or additional funding – capital funding, maybe - to improve facilities. I want to see more routes flying out of Shannon and Cork and that is happening. There has been about a 17% increase in passenger numbers in our regional airports since 2019. That is good but we can build on it. We have headroom. There is capacity in Shannon and Cork and I would like to see it utilised. The airports need to be hungry for business too. They need to go out and fight for business and for airlines to have additional routes flying out of their airports. Dublin, Cork, Shannon and Ireland West Airport in Knock are all important parts of our infrastructure. Allowing people to fly to other destinations from closer to home makes a lot of sense.

Sentiment score: 0.19

I thank the Deputy. The review is not concluded yet. I have not received it. He is right to highlight the importance of the passenger experience. When we think of our public transport system, passengers and customers have to be central to it. Public transport is not just about moving from A to B – it is a vital service that connects individuals to work, education, healthcare and their communities. That is why I am firmly committed to ensuring our public transport system offers services that are accessible, reliable, affordable and, in particular, safe. On reliability, we have major infrastructure plans under BusConnects for each of our five cities, as well as introducing improvements to the vehicle location system for the fleet, which will improve the reliability of the real-time passenger information system. That remains a frustration for passengers on some routes. Real-time information is key. We need to see construction start on the BusConnects corridors in Dublin and roll that out to the other cities. Most of those projects are through planning. Three are not subject to judicial review, so we can start them; others are held up and there are objections. BusConnects, particularly in our cities, will be critical to improving the passenger experience. We are supporting accessibility through our commitment to expand the availability of public transport across the country. This commitment is supported by both international and national frameworks, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and our national sustainable mobility policy, which promotes a whole-journey approach to mobility and inclusive access for all. All new infrastructure is designed with accessibility in mind and significant progress has been made in improving accessibility. This year, my Department has increased funding by 67% for the retrofitting of legacy infrastructure to make it more accessible, particularly for those who have additional needs or are disabled and our senior citizens. Equally important is the safety of passengers and staff across the public transport network. The NTA’s 2024 passenger security report shows that while reported incident rates remain low at 2.2 per 100,000 passenger journeys, incidents are being raised. Even one incident is one too many.

Sentiment score: 0.26

I understand that. People need to be certain and sure they can rely on their public transport system. In the main, they are and our public transport operators operate very well. We saw record passenger numbers on public transport last year. People are responding because fares are affordable but there are issues from time to time, particularly in relation to our bus fleet and buses not turning up. That is why I have met the NTA on a number of occasions and charged it with reviewing the phenomenon of buses not turning up. I assure the Deputy that is not just focused on Dublin. To be fair to my predecessor in the previous Government, the availability of public transport in rural areas has been transformed. We need to go further, unquestionably, but we see the success and expansion of, particularly, rural link. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, will know that well. I have met many of the groups myself. There is a real opportunity to do more but there has been great improvement over the past four or five years and we want to build on that.

Sentiment score: 0.25

On fares, my focus is on investing in our fleet and infrastructure. That will be Government's focus. This five years to the end of the decade can see a step change in our infrastructure. We have seen some significant projects in Ceannt Station, Galway, and Kent Station, Cork. In Waterford, there has been significant investment in a new bus depot and in the train station. We are looking at how we can do that better. Affordability in public transport is key. We have to be mindful of the levels of fares. The decision was made to bring in free travel for five-to-eight-years-olds. We want to see what we can do for students also and there have been fare reductions. I am not ruling out anything because we need to be able to fund investment in our fleet as well. On the food and beverage matter, I will have to follow it up for the Deputy. I do not have an answer on that.

Sentiment score: 0.13

As the Deputy said, this has already been raised by Deputy Ahern. I am happy to say, first, that we are committed to reviewing and updating the national aviation policy, which will bring about a new policy. That will involve stakeholder consultation. Effectively, we will publish a draft in the coming months. The draft will go out to public consultation and consultation in the House, and I would expect Deputy O'Hara and all interested Members to have an input into that. We have also committed in the programme for government to a new regional airports policy, the regional airports programme 2026-2030, and the preparatory work on that is being done. That does not stop what we are already doing in the sector. We want to see continued growth in aviation and I have already referenced some of the numbers across all of our airports. We are projecting some 40.39 million passengers for 2025 across all airports, although that is a projection and it comes with a bit of a health warning. That is at or about what it was in 2024. We are seeing growth in our regional airports and we want that to continue. As referenced earlier, we have seen Cork and Shannon grow and the projection for Ireland West is a further increase in passengers. The national aviation policy needs to support that and we have committed to reviewing, updating and publishing a new national aviation policy. I am very happy to engage with the Deputy and colleagues across the House as we put that new aviation policy together. It will go in front of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport at the appropriate time and I expect the committee will more than likely hold hearings with stakeholders to get their views. This will be a piece of work to be done across the House.

Sentiment score: 0.27

I cannot give Deputy O'Hara a timeline, and I am not at all being evasive, because we have commenced the preparatory work for the review. There will also be an updating and there is a clear commitment in the programme for Government on updating the regional airports programme. There will be a new programme for 2026 to 2030. This means we would need most of the work concluded this year or by the end of quarter 1 next year. This very much depends on stakeholder engagement and engagement from all members and on how the Oireachtas joint committee operates. There is capacity in our regional airports and I want to see it used but the Government cannot direct airlines to fly out of other airports. Airlines decide where they fly. Our airports need to be hungry to go after this business also. We saw this in Cork last week, when the Taoiseach and the Ministers of State, Deputies Buttimer and Canney, were there, with regard to a €200 million capital investment in Cork Airport. We have also seen investment in Shannon Airport to be able to grow its numbers. This is something we want to support our airports to do. It is not one or the other. It is not Dublin Airport or the regional airports. We can grow all of our airports

Sentiment score: 0.13

Public transport connectivity and services to our airports are obviously critical. They are served relatively well. This can always be improved. I would expect it to be part of the input into our national aviation policy. While the existing policy from 2015 needs to be updated, it is not redundant at all. If anything, if we look at the growth in numbers in our airports throughout the regions and focus on our regional airports, particularly over the past five years, it has been significant. New routes are required. I have met the Shannon Group myself. I had a very good meeting with it. I know my colleagues have also met it. It has some specific asks which we will consider as part of updating and reviewing the national aviation policy. Every Deputy in the House and other stakeholders will have an input into it through the Oireachtas joint committee. With regard to servicing of airports by our bus fleet this is happening now. I am not familiar with the matter raised by Deputy O'Hara relating to Bus Éireann. If he wants to correspond with me on it I will have at look into it for him.

Sentiment score: 0.10