I thank the Cathaoirleach. The Leader and many other Members of this House will know that I am very committed to the concept of a flexi-ticket for commuters. It is something that I am very passionate about and have been talking about for a long time. I am very confident that it is something that in the coming weeks or months will get across the line, based on what the National Transport Authority, NTA, is saying. One concern I have, and I spent two hours yesterday speaking to commuters from Drogheda and Dundalk who were going home on the Matthews bus, is the number of people who are having to pay for a monthly or annual ticket today. The cost to go back to Dundalk on the bus is €2,700 a year; to go back on the train it is €3,600 a year or €362 a month. These people are having to pay for these tickets now.

My fear is that the NTA will not have a seamless transition over to a flexi-ticket for someone who has to pay for a monthly or annual ticket today, when it is introduced in perhaps six to eight weeks’ time. It is fundamentally unfair that someone would have to fork out for a full monthly or full annual ticket today and then be left with that for the next 12 months. I am asking that we engage with the NTA in some shape or form to ensure that there is a procedure and practice set up for anyone who has to buy a full monthly or annual ticket in January and that they can make a seamless transition over to a flexi-ticket when it is introduced at the end of the first quarter or the start of the second quarter of 2022, as the NTA has advised us.