Next week we have a number of initiatives coming into play that will reduce the cost of travelling on public transport. This will help greatly with reducing its cost. However, there is an issue where the introduction of this scheme for commercial service will have a detrimental impact on services where a public service obligation, PSO, competes directly with a commercial service. I give the example of the Naas to Maynooth route. For someone with a student Leap card, the old PSO fare was €4.30. This will now be reduced to €1.70 but for a commercial private operator the fare will stay at €4.50. In the interest of fair play, the concession being given to public transport will have to be extended to private commercial operators. It is unfair competition. These private commercial operators will not be able to compete with this level of fare reduction for a public service. As I said, it is great we are reducing fares but it must be for all operators of public transport.

It is good that we have been in a position to reduce public transport fares as part of the cost-of-living measures. The Deputy raises a fair point and the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has engaged with commercial operators and will continue to engage to see if some resolution can be found to this.