I wish the Taoiseach a good afternoon. There was a very positive meeting in Newbridge last night that was chaired by Ms Jennifer Caffrey and hosted by Newbridge Community Development. The one item on the agenda was the cost and availability of public transport in Dublin's commuter belt. As we all know, the National Transport Authority will be publishing new fare rates at the end of June with a view to implementing them by the end of the year. This is another golden opportunity for the Government to put its money where its mouth is. Can the Taoiseach give any indication that he will do his utmost to maximise the amount of State support to the public sector rail and bus companies in order to minimise the cost on hard-pressed commuters when the new fares are announced in five weeks' time?

I thank the Deputy. We have had a reduction in public fares since this Government came to office. That has worked well. We have seen the number of people using public transport increase and it is now above pre-pandemic levels, which is not the case across most of Europe. That has been a successful policy.

The National Transport Authority published a new national fares strategy recently. I understand that will simplify the fare structure for the greater Dublin area and should mean lower train fares and bus fares for people in Drogheda, Newbridge, Naas and other places in the outer commuter belt. Any changes in the existing fare structure will be introduced later in the year. Of course, any changes will be dependent on the availability of Exchequer funding. The scale of what will be involved will depend on the Estimates later in the year.