Is the widely publicised response I received from the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on a question about free public transport the Government's position? In other words, does the Government reject the idea of free public transport because it leads to an increase in unnecessary trips? Does the Taoiseach claim, therefore, that journeys currently undertaken by people entitled to free public transport, namely, those on social welfare or older people, are also unnecessary trips? If this is not the case, why provide it to one group but not to all? Is the unspecified research the Minister referred to available to us? He referred to research. He has been asked by the media to provide it but he has failed to do so. I can give the Taoiseach six or seven other pieces of research that show the benefits of free public transport as a climate and social measure.

I have not seen that response so I cannot comment on it directly. I would not be overly concerned about unnecessary trips, to be honest. I do not think many people are going around on buses and trains just for the craic, but there would be genuine problems with free public transport - cost and capacity. We could see capacity being overloaded, and that would not be an advantage to anyone, and, second, there is an issue of cost. We want to invest additional money in public transport in new services, not just making existing services less expensive. We have reduced public transport fares in Ireland and it has been successful in increasing the number of people using public transport. That should be noted too.

So Eamon Ryan's position is not the Taoiseach's position.

I have not read it, I am sorry. The Deputy may not have represented it fairly.