I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 and 8 together. The National Transport Authority has statutory responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services provided under public service obligation, PSO, contracts. Obviously this statutory responsibility supports the implementation of agreed Government priorities. I assure the Deputy that the Government is committed to delivering an accessible, reliable and affordable public transport system for all our citizens, including children. Under the programme for Government, our commitments include the roll-out of contactless payments, keeping fares affordable and examining the further expansion of free public transport for children. Specifically, budget 2025 included a measure to extend free child fares on PSO services to children aged five to eight years old. The NTA is working to develop and implement this change, with the new scheme expected to launch in quarter 3 of this year. This targeted initiative is designed to help with the cost of living for families and to encourage children to start using public transport from an early age. The Government is also continuing funding supports to allow for the continuation of other fare initiatives, such as the 90-minute fare, the young adult and student Leap card, and 20% discounted fares on PSO services, all of which help make public transport more affordable. Furthermore, the NTA recently introduced a new distance-based zonal fare structure for the greater Dublin area. This move aims to makes fares equitable, more consistent and easier to understand, with significant reductions for many commuting from outer areas, aligning prices more closely with distance travelled. Obviously, I acknowledge that while the new structure is fairer for all, it does mean that some people are now paying a little bit more. I assure the Deputies that I am committed to making public transport as accessible and affordable as possible, while also ensuring that our system remains financially sustainable in the long term.
Sentiment score: 0.41
I thank both Deputies. I, too, acknowledge the work done by the former Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, in developing and bringing forward more public transport initiatives and services and making them more affordable. I want to acknowledge this in the House. Coming back to the question on quarter 3, I do not have the exact date but I will meet officials and I will come back to Deputy O'Gorman with a date when we have it. It is important to say that universal free transport for all, and not only for those under 18, would require an additional €786 million in Exchequer funding annually, before considering increased demand. A large amount of money would be required to provide free transport for everybody. The Government is expanding the child fares, and maintaining new adult fares and the student Leap card 50% off. It is important for students and for young people, as the Deputy said, to get a good experience in terms of reliability, safety and punctuality and to have it at a reasonable price. If we can continue to give that experience to young people, they will continue to use public transport for the rest of their lives. The aim of all these policies is to encourage people to use public transport, take cars off the roads and avoid the congestion. We will have a better society and a better life as well. This comes at a cost and we cannot do it all at once. We have to bring in measures which will be effective, which we can afford and which will be rolled out. With public transport, we have seen a huge increase in numbers right across the different services. It is good news. It is a good story but we need to continue that to incentivise people. My two colleagues and I will continue to push the policies to make sure we see the results on the ground.
Sentiment score: 0.32
Again, I thank the Deputies. I would say, first of all, when we talk about the national development plan, there will be huge competing asks within that plan. Of course, the three Ministers here will be putting forward our best foot in terms of projects within transport, be it roads, public transport or whatever. It is important the Deputies understand that we will be putting in plenty of projects that need to be done which the Department and the officials have been working on. There is a huge ask within the Department of Transport for funding for capital projects but the capital projects are to enhance our services. If you take Ceannt station in Galway, what is happening in Kent station in Cork and the fact that we are now looking at putting in the passing loop in Oranmore to create additional frequency into Galway city where we have huge problems with traffic congestion, we are doing these works. There is a pipeline of works to be done. The all-island rail review, which was commissioned by the previous Minister, Eamon Ryan, is now the basis for investment in rail across the country. On Deputy O'Gorman's question about identity cards, I am not so sure we need to be using identity cards. Discretion is there to be used. Nobody should be not allowed onto public transport but, of course, there has to be a limit. Fair play by consumers in the use of the system will keep it viable. At the end of the day, what we need to do is to take more cars off the road. We need to make sure the public transport is there. The other issue in relation to all of this is that we have residential settlements close to train stations so that you can walk to the train station. If you look at what is happening in Ceannt station in Galway, it is linking the development to the pedestrian accesses around the city which is putting it all together. There is a lot of forward planning going on.
Sentiment score: 0.14
I thank Deputy Dolan for the question and I share some of his frustration as well, no more than the earlier comments from Deputy O'Hara. I know the Deputy is intensely interested in this issue. As we said earlier, there is no doubt there has been very strong passenger growth in recent years. It does pose challenges at certain times on the public transport network, including on the Athenry to Galway corridor. That has been recognised by Irish Rail. The good news is that a range of measures is being examined to address the issues raised by the Deputy, but to be clear some of these measures have short-term, medium-term and longer-term time horizons so I cannot promise to fix all issues at the one time. With regard to the short-term measures, last year a revised timetable was introduced that saw an increase in services for Athenry, resulting in total daily services increasing to 39 per day. The changes also increased the number of pre-9 a.m. arrivals into Galway from Athenry from two services to three services every weekday morning. These measures were assisted by the entry into service of 41 additional intercity rail carriages last year, which has helped with capacity issues on the network generally. More, however, needs to be done. In addition, the upgrade works at Ceannt Station are scheduled to be completed next year. These works, along with the new passing loop at Oranmore station, are vital short-term measures to create additional frequencies getting in and out of the city. Permission was granted in February and construction is expected to commence by the end of this year. These infrastructure projects will deliver additional capacity and efficiency to the rail network. On medium-term measures, the Deputy is aware that the new DART+ fleet is currently being tested and will begin entry into service over the coming year. While this new fleet is DART-specific it will have a knock-on benefit of allowing the release of existing fleet for deployment elsewhere including from Athenry to Galway. The question of where these are to be deployed is currently being reviewed by the NTA and Irish Rail.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I share the Deputy's frustration about the length of time it takes to get projects delivered. This Government has been in place for three months. Our mantra is that we are a Government of implementation rather than a Government of strategising and that is the important thing. We will continue to work on that. The passing loop will be very effective. It will be very important and construction is going to start on that towards the end of this year. I will be putting my shoulder to the wheel with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to make sure we get that started at the earliest possible date. There is long-term ambition in the all-island rail review to ensure that we actually do a lot of passing loops right across the country as well as opening up existing railways again. It is great that we are talking about this because five or six years ago a lot of people were saying that we should be closing the line, especially from Athenry right down to Ennis because nobody was using it. Some 650,000 people are using that now. There is a statement in this that we have additional demand because the services are being provided. In the Department of Transport we are making sure that we not alone meet current demand but that we plan for the future as well.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I am aware of the issues the Deputy has raised on the bus connections from Athenry to Galway. I believe a private operator was doing it but it was pulled. Basically I do not disagree with anything the Deputy is saying. It is important first of all that we look at the immediate steps we can take to start improving things, such as the provision of additional carriages and the installation of a passing loop in Oranmore. Double tracking is a more medium- to long-term project. It is part of the all-island rail review that I will be looking at. I am charged with the delivery of that rail review. We have lots of exciting projects on that. We need to just get them prioritised and get those done quickly that can be done quickly. We need to plan for doing the others in a way that ensures there is continuous work. There is no doubt that if we provide the infrastructure for public transport, people will use it. The fares are reasonable. All the time we are trying to get young people to think "If I am going someplace, I will go on a bus or a train". If people are living close to a train station, they do not need a car. We need to look at the planning framework for that as well.
Sentiment score: 0.06
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 52 and 272 together. I thank Deputy O'Shea for his question. As he knows, under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, has statutory responsibility for the national driving test service. I have been advised by the RSA that, following a recruitment process, the number of testers in Cork has increased from nine to 16 and it is envisaged that this number will increase to 18 by the end of the year. I acknowledge that current waiting times for driving tests are far in excess of what is acceptable and I reassure Deputies that measures are being taken to address this issue. I met with the RSA last week to discuss this issue and instructed the authority to return in two weeks with sustainable proposals which will provide a faster resumption to the service level agreement of ten weeks' waiting time. To support the RSA in increasing testing capacity and improving service delivery, in September 2024 my Department sanctioned an additional 70 permanent positions for driver testers. This increases the total number to 200, which represents a doubling of the number of testers from 2022. The recruitment process is under way, with the first tranche of new testers now being deployed into service. As additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and progress should be seen on reducing waiting times in the months ahead. As a condition of the sanction given in September, the RSA was required to put in place a plan to restore the ten-week waiting time target as soon as possible. When this plan was first put forward by the RSA, it envisaged a return to the target by November 2025. I have told the authority that this is not acceptable given the level of delay already being suffered by learner drivers. I have instructed the RSA to review the plan and identify further measures that will bring forward the date for achieving the target. The RSA has assured me that service will be restored to the target level in a reasonable time, and I am determined to ensure that this happens. As I said, I will meet the RSA again next week. I want to see its plan, which I will monitor continuously. As far as I am concerned, this is a crisis that we need to get resolved as quickly as possible.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I thank both Deputies for their contributions. I think every TD has received correspondence from young people or parents in the same position. I received an email last week from a parent about their son, whose test has been postponed eight times since he applied for it. The dates have been shifted out. That is not acceptable to anybody. My meeting with the RSA leadership last week focused on the need to reduce the current waiting times. I have instructed them to identify further measures that would bring forward the date. As I have told them, nothing is off the table as to how we address this. I will meet them again next Wednesday. They have given me assurances that the service will be restored in a reasonable time. I do not accept the wording "reasonable time"; I want to see specific dates by which that should happen. I will say two other things, in fairness. Over the last two years, 8,000 people have not shown up for their driving test. That is not acceptable either. People are not even notifying the driver testers that they are not going to be there, which would give an opportunity to somebody else. Over the past two years, we have lost 8,000 tests because of people not showing up. This needs to be highlighted as well. It is very selfish of people not to show up for their tests or to at least provide notification if they cannot show up. I accept an emergency can happen on occasion but to have 8,000 no-shows is not good enough. The demand for driving tests has increased. The busiest year in history was 2024, when 253,000 tests were carried out. This was up from 196,000 tests in 2023. We know there is increased demand and people need to get their driver licences so they can go to work or college. Many people cannot find college accommodation so they have to commute some way, especially if there is no public transport access. We must deal with this issue. As I said, this is an emergency. I am in ongoing discussions in this regard. No idea is off the table in trying to reduce the numbers as quickly as possible. The Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, are working closely with me on this matter to ensure we deliver earlier times and get the ten weeks back as the acceptable norm, and to reduce it even further. If we can reduce it in the first instance, then we can keep reducing it. We also want to create certainty in terms of when a test might be happening.
Sentiment score: 0.01
To respond to Deputy Crowe, as I said earlier, nothing is off the table. In the past, we have used private instructors to do testing, so nothing is off the table as far as I am concerned. Turning to Deputy Burke, what he said is exactly the point. I want to see what is going to happen on a weekly basis, how the numbers are going to be reduced and how the additional testers will be put in place. I need to see the workings of this process. I will not accept half-hearted programmes. I need to see this done clinically and we need to monitor it continuously. Hopefully, we will get the waiting time reduced, and we will start to do it straightaway. It is a big problem but in fairness we are working on it. I accept everything the Deputy said is true. It is shocking because we have front-line workers and young people in this situation and their lives are being disturbed so much. They lose confidence in everything if they do not get their driver licences.
Sentiment score: 0.01