In May of this year the Minister for Transport and the National Transport Authority, NTA, launched a 50% reduction in public transport fares for young people aged between 19 and 23. Issues quickly emerged regarding the scheme, in particular its extension to private operators and on the age limit. The Minister secured additional moneys in the budget to extend the scheme to commercial operators, which is welcome, but there still continues to be an issue with the age limit. The Minister has committed to changing it but when will it be introduced? I am being contacted by students, parents and grandparents asking when the change will happen so that 16- to 18-year-olds can benefit from the fare reduction.

The reduction in public transport fares has been a real success, both the general reduction and also the reduction for young people. I know governments in other countries have done more radical things, for example in Germany, but in fact they have had to reverse them. What we have done makes more sense, which is a sustainable reduction in public transport costs. We are facing some difficulty extending the scheme to commercial operators because of the fact that we do not control their fares. We want to make sure that if we give them taxpayers' money that the fares do go down by the amount they are supposed to go down. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, are working on that. It is our intention to make sure that those young people get the discount that we want them to get.