Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Public transport should be simple, accessible and modern yet passengers on Bus Éireann services across the country are still required to carry cash. In 2026, that simply does not reflect how people live, travel and pay for services. Card and contactless payments should be accepted on board Bus Éireann services. Across Ireland, contactless payments have become the norm. Our Local Link services already accept card payments and, since 2022, all licensed taxi services have been legally required to take card payments. They also cannot charge an additional fee for providing that service. People now expect to be able to tap their card or pay with their phone for simple services. However, Bus Éireann passengers are still being told to download apps, buy Leap cards or carry cash. While very useful, those options do not work for everybody. Not every passenger has the app or a Leap card and fewer people are carrying cash. Bus Éireann Expressway services accept card payments, which means the technology and operational model already exist within the system, but the same convenience is not available to people who use the many standard Bus Éireann services throughout the country every day.

This creates a real problem for passengers. Bus stops are often located in areas where ATMs or shops are not located nearby. This is especially a problem late at night. This issue has been raised with me, particularly in respect of people waiting in darkness in rural areas for a bus to come late at night only to be told they needed to carry cash to use the service. Drivers in this situation are often placed in a difficult position. They have to tell people they cannot take on them on the service or to allow them on board, asking them to get cash somewhere else when the bus next stops off. I acknowledge the fact that Bus Éireann drivers, especially those on rural services, are very accommodating with individuals, but they should not have to deal with this.

At the same time, this also means that our Bus Éireann drivers on rural routes are carrying a significant amount of cash with them at all times, which potentially raises safety and security concerns for them. We know that a national contactless ticketing project is currently under way, with a roll-out expected in the coming years. That contract was awarded to a Dublin company in 2024 to replace the Leap card, yet I believe it is not until 2028 that we are expecting the roll-out of that system. While the progress is welcome, the questions that many customers and passengers are asking is why a basic payment option should take years to implement. With modern payment technologies, even a standard mobile device can process contactless transactions. Many small businesses and service providers adopt this quickly. It raises the question of whether an interim solution could be introduced much sooner while the larger system is still being developed.

Public transport must evolve the way people live and travel. Accepting card payments on board buses is no longer a luxury; it is a basic expectation. It would improve accessibility for passengers, reduce the amount of cash drivers are carrying and ensure nobody is left standing on the side of the road waiting or wondering if they have change to pay for a bus. If the long-term system is still a number of years away, we should be asking whether a practical interim solution can be introduced now. In the modern transport system, paying for a bus journey should be the easiest part of the journey.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Scahill as ucht an rúin seo a chur roimh an Teach. It is a very important issue and I am taking the matter on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien.

The programme for Government is committed to the rolling out of contactless fare payments on all public transport and to keeping fares low and affordable. It is important to stress that contactless fare payments, or next generation ticketing, will be introduced initially as part of BusConnects Dublin before being delivered nationwide, including on Bus Éireann services. The Senator is right. People expect the service to be reliable, accessible and modern and I fully concur with him that many people now do not carry cash, but use cards instead. It is important to stress that many public transport users have travelled the world and have engaged with other systems where contactless ticketing is in operation and in use. The Senator spoke about the whole Local Link service. That has been a huge success.

I assure the Senator that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Department and Government, along with the stakeholders, are making, and will continue to make, significant efforts to implement the next generation ticketing across the country over the coming years. The Minister and the Department have made significant funding available to support the move to new ticketing technology, and the National Transport Authority has entered into a contract with a Spanish technology company, Indra Sistemas, to deliver the project. The Minister met with the company in January at its new Dublin headquarters. During the visit, he emphasised the importance of this project and the desire of all public transport users - as articulated and outlined by the Senator here - and of Government to see it implemented without delay. Last week, we had questions on this particular matter in the Dáil. This modern solution will introduce contactless payments for passengers via bank cards, mobile phones and barcodes across all public transport modes nationwide that are subsidised by the State. It will replace the Leap card system, which has served over 9 million users since its launch in 2011. The initial focus of this project is on the greater Dublin area. It will be rolled out across four phases, with phase 1 due to be launched in the summer of 2027. This will test contactless payments on new validators or ticket machines. Phase 2, as the Senator said, will be launched in 2028, allowing passengers on Dublin Bus and Luas services to use this new ticketing technology, including contactless payments, on validators. Plans for later phases remain under development at the moment.

I share the Senator's view that it is taking far too long. There is a frustration felt by many of us in government because the old legacy system is difficult to maintain and is at the end of its life. The Senator is right that people have moved on. The world has evolved. Separately, the NTA is actively rolling out contactless payments across the TFI Local Link, with regular services allowing passengers to pay for single journeys via debit and credit cards, Apple Pay and Google Pay. This system is being deployed across all 15 TFI Local Link offices, with the full cohort to be done by the end of this year.

As Minister of State with responsibility for rural transport, I pay tribute to the Local Link offices and the services being provided, particularly those we are talking about here with contactless payments making it easier for people from Laois, Offaly, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim. Under budget 2026, a funding package of €940 million was secured for PSO, and TFI Local Link received a 43% increase from last year. This will further support subsidised bus and rail services across Ireland, while maintaining targeted fares, including initiatives such as the recently introduced free travel for children up to the age of nine, and young adult cards for those aged 19 to 25, as part of the NTA's national fares strategy.

To conclude, I thank Senator Scahill for the points he has made. It is incredibly frustrating. We need to move quicker and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, shares that view as well.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am glad to acknowledge Local Link because I know it is within his remit. It is great to see the 43% increase Local Link will be receiving to support its roll out of the services. Sometimes, we seem to overcomplicate these things. Local Link and the taxi services are able to do this. There are white-box solutions out there for just about everything at the moment that are very easily implemented, adapted and which are able to do this. We spoke about volunteering last week when the Minister of State was in the Chamber last. We know all our local GAA and soccer clubs are using these remote terminals now to process transactions for their local lottos when they are out and about. When it is as simple as that, it is very hard to understand how it takes three to four years to implement a solution like this on our main bus system when all the other services have done it. It is something I hope we can speed up the solution on.

If I may digress for a second, I encourage the Senator to go over in a minute to the NTA briefing because it is not the first time he has raised this matter. He has been a very strong proponent of this. The next generation ticketing was initially introduced as part of Dublin BusConnects and then going nationwide. I am not being defensive here but it is important to get it right. There needs to be careful planning, approvals and co-ordination with multiple different external organisations in terms of design and installation. The important point is to get it absolutely right because if not, the Senator will correctly come back in here and say it has been a completely diabolical and mismanaged project. We should travel with haste in the context of the project being implemented safely, correctly and within budget and then there is the whole piece around that next generation ticketing and the validators on the entire public transport fleet and stations. The Senator makes a very good point. There is complication and complexity and I am not quite sure why we have to make it so difficult. As somebody who is not an expert, I am looking at it like the Senator and asking why it cannot be done quicker. I hope when we do this - and I will ask the NTA in a minute when I go over to the briefing - that we get it right. It is about the next generation ticketing. It is about ensuring the solution works nationwide. I thank the Acting Chair for her indulgence.