This meeting has been convened to consider two separate matters. First, we will consider the 2026 Supplementary Estimates for Vote 31 - Transport. Second, we will commence Committee Stage of the Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026.

I have a note on privilege. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise, or make charges against any person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

We move forward to the 2026 Supplementary Estimates for Vote 31. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and his officials for attending and assisting our consideration of the Estimates. I also thank him for providing the information relating to the Estimates in advance.

I propose that the Minister of State will make some brief opening remarks, after which I will invite members to contribute. Is that agreed? Agreed. I invite the Minister of State to make his opening statement.

Tá áthas orm a bheith anseo os comhair an roghchoiste. I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss the 2026 Supplementary Estimates for the Department of Transport and, later, the Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026.

With regard to the Estimates, in total €120 million in additional current expenditure funding will be allocated to the Vote to meet the costs associated with the road transporters support scheme, RTSS. This supplementary allocation reflects the Government’s commitment to providing financial assistance to road transport operators to offset rising fuel costs. The RTSS supports the road transport sector in recognition of its essential role in Ireland’s supply chains for businesses, and in providing essential connectivity across both urban and rural communities. The scheme provides significant financial support to help to meet the challenges posed by the increase in fuel costs arising out of the war in the Middle East.

The RTSS recognises the vital role played every day by hauliers and bus and coach operators in keeping Ireland moving forward, supporting jobs and maintaining our essential supply chains.

This targeted support is designed to relieve immediate cost pressures while ensuring continuity of services for families, businesses and communities across the country. It reflects our strong commitment to working closely with the sector to protect capacity and resilience at a critical time. The scheme was open to licensed and own account road haulage operators and licensed road passenger transport operators. It will also support commercial passenger transport operators and school transport providers, who play a critical role in the economy.

Support for operators of TFI Local Link services will be available through the NTA, while support for school transport services will be facilitated by the Department of Education and Youth. Transport services to the islands will be facilitated by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht. The Department of Transport will co-ordinate payments to these bodies. These supports complement the wider package of the reduction in excise rates and the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy, and the increased rebate allowed under the diesel rebate scheme. The overall supports provided by the Government reflect the needs communicated by the sector's representative bodies over many engagements and respond to the stated needs of the sector.

Regarding the other aspect of our meeting, members will be aware that the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, as originally enacted, provided for the establishment of the Dublin Transport Authority, DTA, and set out its role and functions to ensure the provision of an integrated transport system for the greater Dublin area, including the procurement of public transport infrastructure and services. The authority was renamed the National Transport Authority, NTA, in 2009 and a number of its powers were extended nationally by the Public Transport Regulation Act 2009, the Taxi Regulation Act 2013 and the Public Transport Act 2016. The Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 will build on this.

Section 44 of the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008 sets out the functions and powers of the National Transport Authority in relation to the provision of public transport infrastructure. Where the NTA considers that it would be “more convenient, more expeditious, more effective or more economical” for it to provide public transport infrastructure itself, it may decide to do so in accordance with section 44(2)(b) of the 2008 Act. This statutory framework has been used by the NTA in relation to the 12 BusConnects Dublin core bus corridor schemes. However, section 44 is currently limited to the greater Dublin area.

The Bill is a short one-item Bill, largely technical in nature. The purpose of the Bill is to amend section 44 to provide a clear legislative framework to enable the NTA, as it currently does in the greater Dublin area, to undertake in the State the construction of public transport infrastructure projects, such as BusConnects, especially in the metropolitan areas of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford, in collaboration with the local authorities. The national planning framework, the national sustainable mobility policy and the climate action plan all commit to extending the statutory transport planning remit of the NTA to the metropolitan areas of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. The national sustainable mobility policy, which was published in 2022, and the Moving Together: A Collaborative Approach to Systems Change in Transport 2026-2030 strategy also note and reiterate this commitment. The programme for Government commits to expanding bus services in cities and ensuring that BusConnects delivers promised benefits for public transport users.

BusConnects is a transformative programme of investment in the bus system, with the aim to provide better bus services across five cities. It is the largest investment in the bus system ever and is managed by the NTA. It will connect people and places through an enhanced bus system together with improved cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. It is a key part of the Government's approach to improving public transport, addressing climate change and reducing congestion in our cities. The Government issued gate 1 approval in line with the infrastructure guidelines on 29 October 2025, allowing the sustainable transport corridors of the BusConnects Cork programme to enter the planning system. Subject to the enactment of the legislation, the NTA intends to submit planning applications to An Coimisiún Pleanála this year in respect of the infrastructure elements of BusConnects. The objective of this Bill is to improve and enhance the existing legislation to support the planning application of the BusConnects Cork project and to support similar projects in the other cities outside the greater Dublin area in the future, if required.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach agus le comhaltaí an roghchoiste as an gcuireadh teacht os a chomhair inniu. I thank members for their time and commend the 2026 Supplementary Estimates and the Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 to the committee. I am happy to address any questions that members may have.

I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. As he said, there are two important matters for the committee to discuss. First, the Supplementary Estimate of €120 million for the Department of Transport in 2026 will finance the road transporters support scheme to help quite a number of stakeholders offset their increased fuel costs, primarily arising from the conflict in the Middle East. Obviously, the Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 is a technical, but nonetheless significant, amendment.

We will allocate seven minutes each to members. If members do not wish to use all of their seven minutes, that is fine. First up is Deputy Currie.

I welcome the Minister of State and his team back.

I have two questions I wish to cover. I know that we are discussing the Supplementary Estimate for the road transporter scheme, but regarding funding and reform of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, the Minister of State said last week that he would be making an announcement and that the Indecon report had highlighted issues in relation to funding the RSA to focus on education campaigns, awareness campaigns and road safety. Where is the Minister of State at with seeking an additional budget in that regard?

The announcement that I spoke about last week was that we would be publishing the RSA roadmap and implementation plan for reform. At the moment, the RSA is self-financing. I do not believe that much in the way of additional moneys will be required, but if they are, we will look at that in the round of the October budgetary process, which is commencing now. We will be preparing a memo for the Government in the coming weeks to get approval to go ahead with the reforms of the RSA. Some of the actions have already been taken. We have appointed additional members to the board, which were lacking, with competencies that are necessary. The board will have its full complement of directors to support the RSA in carrying out these necessary reforms. It will be giving me not just its blueprint for reform, but also an implementation plan to go with that, so we will have timelines for the various changes that will be needed.

Is the Minister of State saying that his Department will not require additional moneys and that it will be looking at the allocation of funding from its existing funds?

The RSA is self-financing at the moment. To run, it uses the money raised through the collection of fees. If with the reforms there are additional funding requirements that it cannot meet, we will look at that within the context of the budget discussions that we will have. I do not believe it is a budgetary issue. It is more a restructuring issue that will make it more efficient.

Sorry, I have to briefly intervene. To be fair to the Minister of State, I ask members to stick to the terms of reference. The first part of our meeting is on the Estimate. I will allow questions that directly relate to his opening statement as well. Of course, the Minister of State can answer, but I will also accept if he wants to set aside a question.

The Cathaoirleach cannot blame me for trying.

My next question is in relation to the NTA. On 28 May 2025, I flagged concerns directly with the NTA through our committee about the electrification of bus depots, in that three out of nine bus depots had charging points and competitions that had been launched in 2021 and 2023 had been cancelled.

I specifically asked if there were buses that were not being used and the National Transport Authority, NTA, I think, avoided that question. A year on, it became apparent, through the PAC, that 130 electric buses had been in storage for two years. It is great that the NTA is extending its statutory transport planning remit to Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford. Will there be a change in the approach to answering questions, through parliamentary questions and through this committee, to support us in the role that we have when it comes to oversight and scrutiny of the operation of the NTA, the operation of public transport and the use of public funds?

First, what the Deputy is raising is the accountability of the NTA to the Oireachtas Members. The NTA is answerable or accountable to the Department of Transport in respect of the moneys it gets to spend on projects.

On the issue in relation to the buses that were bought, it was a great idea to buy the buses but the follow on in terms of providing the infrastructure was not up to standard. Nobody can stand over the fact that there are buses in storage when they should be out on the roads. Most demands I get, from questions in the Dáil, Topical Issues or whatever, relate to the need for more buses on the roads and we should have them on the roads. I would not call it unfortunate. I would call it probably not good management that we did not fast-track the implementation of the required charging for them.

The fact that they were a bit coy in come back to the Deputy on the question is not acceptable. As elected representatives, we need to have that accountability. We need to have that forthright discussion about that with the NTA.

I thank the Minister of State for that because public representatives can spend a lot of time using parliamentary questions. There is scrutiny at present about the number of parliamentary questions being asked but if we were getting robust answers that were transparent and facilitating our role in the first place, we would not have to continually ask parliamentary questions. There needs to be a change of mindset in offering the information that we require to do that job.

I agree.

I support Deputy Currie in terms of getting that information in a timely manner. Where my questions to the Department of Transport that are subsequently sent to the NTA, I am struck by the extraordinary amount of time it takes to get a response. I would appeal to the Minister of State and his officials to raise that directly. For example, the HSE responds, more often than not, within ten working days. With the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and the NTA, I would impress upon the Minister of State that we could be getting responses to our parliamentary questions in a more timely manner.

I call Deputy Daly.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. We have heard about the €7 million on the electric buses lying idle. There is also an issue about €11 million in the park-and-ride facility from which no service will operate because the money is not there.

We have also heard about the €50 million on the IT rail project. I think the Minister of State would accept that the €50 million has been wasted.

Any money that is spent on something and does not deliver what it is supposed to - it is taxpayers' money - is a waste.

Would the Minister of State accept that there was a serious failure of governance in continuing on with that project when there were red flags being raised all over the place?

When you do the analysis, maybe a call could have been made earlier that this was not working out and people were hoping that maybe it would work out. From working in the private sector, I know you would often make a call at certain times as to whether you would continue on with a process where you were not too sure whether it would fail, and if it succeeded, there would be no talk about it. I accept that there should be more checks and balances when an issue such as this arises.

When exactly was the Minister of State first aware that we had reached a point of no return?

When I read it in the newspapers.

Not until then.

Yes.

The Minister of State had no idea about it until that stage.

No.

Does the Minister of State know whether the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, had any idea up to that stage?

I do not know. I cannot speak for the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, here.

Has that €50 million loss had any effect on any new services?

I suppose it is also important to say that was a budget that was to be spent and it was spent. It did not deliver what it had to deliver.

Did it have any effect on new services being delivered on bus and rail?

New services are being delivered all the time. There is an increase in public service obligation, PSO, funding. I do not have the figure in front of me.

The money that is now being spent is being spent on services with new contracts that have been reviewed learning the lessons from what happened there. There are new processes being put in place to ensure that these contracts are more transparent.

Is it being spent on new services, because Department officials have acknowledged that budget 2026 will not allow any new public transport services to be delivered this year and that no new bus or rail services will commence this year?

That is an issue in relation to the PSO and the funding available within the public service obligation budget. I understand the contract that was there was also a contract that was-----

No, but other new services.

Sorry, that was a capital contract rather than a current contract on the PSO levels. It was not that PSO budget that dealt with this.

Would the Minister of State accept that there are no new bus and rail services commencing in 2026?

I answered this in a Topical Issue debate this morning about transport services. There is continuous engagement going on between my officials in the Department of Transport and the different operators of the PSO to see what services can be enhanced and what ones can be brought forward. Of course, there is also a budgetary constraint even though there was an increase in the PSO this year, but also there is a huge-----

Which PSO services is the Minister of State talking about?

I am talking about bus services and train services.

Would the Minister of State accept that there no new bus or rail services commencing in 2026?

That is not fully decided yet. If the Deputy looks at-----

They are not budgeted for.

The budget that was allowed for this year for the service is greater. An additional €200 million approximately was put into the service for this year.

In the budget, but there are not new services commencing unless the officials are wrong.

There are ongoing discussions between the Department and the NTA and providers on this.

As we speak, there are no new services.

The discussions are ongoing.

As things stand, we have not heard. If there was an announcement, we surely would have heard about it.

There have been no announcements. Discussions are going on.

What about the contractor, the Spanish company that has the contract for other ticketing services, including contactless payments. Given what happened with the €50 million, has the Minister of State confidence in this company to deliver or can he guarantee that there will not be any cost overruns with that contract?

First, when you are talking about contracts, you cannot put everything into the one pot and say that none of these contracts will be delivered. I have confidence that my officials, as I said, will review all of these contracts, will look at them and deal with the fact that other companies are also providing contracts to make sure that they are-----

We know about the other companies but this one has a history of failing to deliver. Has the Minister of State confidence in them to deliver the new system on time?

I cannot comment on individual contracts and what went wrong with them.

I have confidence that we will keep a good eye on what is going on in the other contracts.

I am not asking the Minister of State to comment on other contracts; I am asking him whether he has confidence in this company to deliver given the history.

I will have to see the full detail of what went wrong before I would exercise an opinion on whether I should have confidence in it.

A project has been abandoned at a cost of €50 million and there has been failure, as the Minister of State said earlier.

I will have to see all of the detail on the reason before I would comment and say I have no confidence.

So the Minister of State still has some confidence in that company. Is that what the Minister of State is saying?

I did not say that either; I said I am not making a comment on it until I see the full-----

What the Minister of State is saying is "No comment".

Whatever way Deputy Daly wants to take it.

I want to ask a general question. In Blennerville outside Tralee last Monday morning I met participants of courses who are in rehab care. Most of them are people with intellectual disabilities. They asked me whether the Department has any plan to ensure there are spaces at the front of buses for neurodivergent service users. Are there plans for this? Will the Minister of State comment on the roll-out of bus stop shelters, particularly in counties in the west of Ireland where there is a shortfall? People are getting wet while they are waiting for their buses.

On the first matter raised by Deputy Daly, it will be looked at and considered. If the group wants to make a submission to men I will look at it. On the second point raised by Deputy Daly on bus shelters, as he knows we have plenty of rain in Ireland and not every bus stop has a shelter. We are rolling out bus shelters through the active travel units in local authorities. We are beginning to see progress in the increase in infrastructure. I agree that we need to have-----

It is a cumbersome process between the local authorities, the Department and the NTA for approval, funding and delivery. Would the Minister of State agree with this?

We are progressing active travel through the local authorities. The active travel units in the local authorities have taken time to develop the skill sets they need to be able to deliver them faster.

Deputy Crowe is chairing another committee meeting that is taking place at present, so I will allow him to speak now.

I thank the Cathaoirleach for accommodating me. I am chairing the Oireachtas education committee next door, so I will jump in and jump out quickly. I apologise.

I have a few quick questions for the Minister of State. Most of us who serve in the Oireachtas have come from local authorities. Nearly every motion that a councillor tables at local authority level gets sent to road design. The Minister of State has referred to the safe routes to school programme and local improvement schemes. So much goes to local authority road design offices and I am not convinced they are properly funded. Much of their work aligns with the Department but they are funded and resourced by local government. So many projects do never get going or do not get designed or packaged for the Department in time. Is this a concern for the Minister of State? Is there something the Department can do in its budgetary framework to support the road design offices at local authority level?

Every road design office is under pressure because they have competing requests and it depends on the geographical area and geographical spread. My county of Galway is the second biggest geographically in Ireland and it probably has the same type of staffing level as there is in smaller counties. There is always room for improvement in what we do and how we do it. What we are doing in terms of efficiency and competitiveness is cutting out some of the processes that fill time but do not get projects done. What the Minister, Deputy Chambers, is doing to cut out some of the processes and doing some of the processes concurrently will mean we will save time and make the road design offices more efficient, in that they will be able to get on with the work in a speedier manner.

I thank the Minister of State. Just a short while ago, I joined some colleagues meeting representatives of the car rental industry in Ireland. The car rental industry is quite buoyant in my constituency because of Shannon Airport. An EU requirement is coming down the line which will mean that most, if not all, of the fleet will have to be electric by 2030. The representatives made the point that the people picking up cars at the airports in Dublin, Cork and Shannon will be driving along the Wild Atlantic Way on the most beautiful but rural and remote roads in Ireland which do not have a charging infrastructure. What they are saying is that it is time for the Government to push back on Europe a little bit and it is time for the Minister of State to rescind to some degree what his predecessor in the previous Government signed up to and say it is not realistic for Ireland to get to this point in four years' time, that we value the rental fleet and that we do not have the infrastructure to meet the requirement.

I am very much aware of this. I met with the same group Deputy Crowe met and I am very much aware of the concerns. This is being discussed in the European Union at the moment and no hard and fast decision has been made on it. It is one of the files I will be dealing with during the Presidency of the European Union. A lot of different views are being expressed by different countries on it. A lot of the smaller companies and SMEs have issues with it. It may not be viable for them. Earlier I spoke about competitiveness and we have to make sure that whatever decision we make in terms of the roll-out of decarbonisation does not compete with efficiencies or competitiveness. We will have to balance out the two.

I appreciate that people travelling along the Wild Atlantic Way through beautiful places such as Kinvara and down to Clare might not find too many charging points. There is also the point that people will have to charge the car before giving it back which raises the question as to where this will be done. Do airports have the capacity to charge them? All of these factors will have to be taken into account. I well understand the concerns the group has.

I thank the Minister of State. I want to raise what is a budgetary matter for the Department. Mary Considine, the chief executive of Irish Rail, came before the committee recently. I made the point that between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. there are incredible rail services from the capital to all parts of the country but not at 8 p.m. for some reason. An hourly train leaves Dublin on the Cork service, which has connections to Limerick, Ennis and Galway. It covers the entire west, or a lot of the west at least. It runs every hour but not at 8 p.m. I asked Mary Considine why this is the case and whether essential maintenance is carried out. It is for budgetary reasons. A public service obligation subsidises each service but not at 8 p.m. It seems ludicrous to me. Throughout the summer a lot of families and young people will come to Dublin for concerts and matches. They will want to go home again as they cannot all afford to spend €300 to stay in a hotel in Dublin for the night. Will the Minister of State fund a PSO service at 8 p.m. and perhaps another one at 10 p.m. to allow people to get home? It would benefit the county of the Minister of State as much as my county and counties Limerick and Cork. Will the Minister of State tic-tac with the chief executive of Irish Rail to institute this for the autumn?

This is part of the ongoing budgetary process. It will have to be looked at in the context of the budget and the PSO funding we will have. I appreciate what Deputy Crowe is saying and we are like-minded on lot of things in terms of rail. This is something we need to have a look at.

I thank the Minister of State. I want to ask about roads funding. Today is one of the rare occasions when I drove to Dublin; I usually take the train. The national road network is incredible and the regional road network in this country is excellent. It is second to none when we go around our near neighbours in the European Union. However, our local road network is not as good and it has been flagged again today on the radio that it is underfunded. What should be a ten-year cycle of maintaining roads has fallen by the wayside. Is there good news on this? Does the Minister of State have any good news on the Ennis town bus service for which we have been waiting a long time? I believe it will happen this year but it seems the date has moved a little bit. Will the Minister of State give us any indication on this?

On the final question I do not have date for Deputy Crowe right now but I will check it out for him. With regard to funding for local roads, with the increase in fuel costs over the year, we are making €120 million available to support the transport industry. Applications have been made. This is our way to try to reduce the costs. I would hope that whatever supports the transport networks are getting that they are taking this into account when they are looking at their costs.

There is a scheme being devised for plant hire contractors. I just hope that we are not giving the money for works on our roads without seeing the benefit. Right across the construction sector, prices have gone up enormously, and part of this is due to transport costs. However, we have put together a package for which we are trying to get members' approval today, that would mean-----

I thank the Minister. I apologise but I am going to go back to the other committee meeting.

I thank our guests. The Minister of State is with us again this week, which presents an opportunity. We are talking mainly about the budget. All I would like is an answer on Local Link and its budget. There is a crisis. A number of months back, in my constituency of Cork South-West, tenders were issued for the Bantry–Kealkill–Macroom route, which is not serviced already. That was fantastic and was great news for the area, including Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Grange and Timoleague. Months have gone by. I am a volunteer on the board and I have asked at board level about where this tender is and the answer is there is no money. I cannot understand why the RSA or the NTA – there are so many factions of people now that you would want a book of all the various names – put out for tender something it did not have money for. It is like me saying I am going to buy a Porsche tomorrow morning while knowing damn well I do not have the money to buy it. It is only codding people. What is happening? Is the national budget gone or is it just gone for west Cork? That is a very fair question.

I expect that there will have to be retendering because these tenders came in seven, eight or nine months ago. I presume the changes in relation to fuel and so on will mean the whole system will have to be retendered. What a wasted process. What is going to happen? Are these routes going to be retendered? Are they going to exist at all? There are many more such routes. The other day on the radio, I heard about the Macroom side and other areas like that, but I can talk only about the two areas for which a promise was made that was not delivered upon. Now people are sitting on the side of the road waiting.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked me this morning, during the Topical Issues debate in the Dáil, about bus services in west Cork and expanding them. I do not know the detail on the tender in question or what will happen with it. I can only tell the Deputy that €31 million in funding was made available for Local Link nationally. That was an increase of 38% on last year. I remind members that 95% of the Local Link services are now wheelchair accessible, which is important.

There is an ongoing review of the rural transport programme. This has been carried out by Indecon International Consultants and is being considered by the Department. I do not have a direct answer for the Deputy, but we will check the detail for him.

I would appreciate that, in fairness. Thirty-one million euro is huge money and I respect that, but tenders were issued, nearly 12 months ago at this stage, and the routes never got off the ground. It created false expectations, like putting the cart before the horse and the horse keeping running, and there is nothing there. People are left in these areas with no transport. It is not that they have a little bit of rural transport. They have no transport in the areas I mentioned, including Bantry, Kealkill and Macroom, and the areas of Dunmanway, Clonakilty, Grange and Timoleague. I would appreciate it if the Minister came back to me with the details on those.

It is a well-known fact, and there was a report by Cork County Council, that roads in the Cork area are significantly underfunded compared with those under any other council. Obviously, Cork is the county with the greatest number of roads, but that is never factored into the funds that become available. We get on to Cork County Council, it has its meetings and it continuously says it is underfunded. I travel on only some of these roads. I was talking last week to the Minister of State about the hill at the top end of Rosscarbery. It is a danger to a human being to be on that road, given the number of hollows and jumps. The same applies in Ballydehob and on the way into Bantry from the Barnageehy side. The council is not playing games. If it has the money, it will spend it, but it is not getting it to spend.

I go back to what I asked the Minister of State last week about the repair of roads. I was not overly happy with the answer I got when I thought about it afterwards. The Minister of State said the repair of roads was the remit of the council. If the council is wasting money splashing out tar from the back of a lorry when it could use the new JCB pothole repair method the rest of Europe is using, which would mean it could get the job done and walk away for the next five or ten years rather than having potholes reopen the next morning if there is a drop of rain, it is not acceptable. The Minister of State surely has a responsibility to make sure the money is spent and spent wisely. Yes, the machine might be dear initially, but the work it can do would mean the job would be done and we can walk away. The roads I am talking about are being repaired in some places but are just opening up into holes again the following day. It is the Minister of State’s job to make sure money is spent properly and that proper funding is allocated for areas like west Cork.

The Minister of State was down with me before. He was gracious in coming down and I appreciate that. I have no bother taking the Minister of State down any day he is available. I will drive some of the roads with him and, if he is honest with me, he will stand by the car shocked at the conditions people are driving in. I am talking about the N71, not little laneways, byways and boreens. The N71, the main thoroughfare into west Cork, is a danger to man and beast.

On funding for local authorities, each year the local authorities prepare their applications for funding to the Department for local roads. Each submits its application to the Department and then, based on the funding available, it gets its allocation. The Deputy mentioned roads. Did the council apply for funding last year specifically for those roads? It is important to note where the process starts. It is not when the pothole appears or when there is a problem with the road. It starts with forward planning and with local authorities putting in applications annually for roads they need to get done. They will get the funding for that. There has been increased funding for roads this year. One of the difficulties we have right now is that costs are going up, so local authorities may not be getting as much value for their money based on the increases in costs due to what has been happening. There is a balance to be struck.

The Deputy talked about specific methods of repair. I cannot tell people how to repair potholes, nor am I going to get into that, because then I would be down doing it myself. What I can say to the Deputy is that common sense should prevail. If a machine can do the work better and in the long term provide a better and more lasting solution, it should be used. Common sense should apply.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit agus lena oifigigh as a bheith linn. I will ask about the Bill first, if that is all right. I am assuming that this will deal with the lacunae that have surfaced in this committee before where the NTA does not have responsibility for rail projects outside Dublin. That is my understanding of what will come out of this Bill. Is that correct?

The NTA, as constituted, came from the Dublin Transport Authority. When that became the NTA, it did not get the power to apply for planning permissions for projects outside the greater Dublin area. What this Bill does is give it the authority to apply for planning permissions for BusConnects in cities like Cork, where things are imminent, and also Galway, Waterford and Limerick.

Is it just for BusConnects or is it also for rail projects? My understanding was that there was a gap such that outside Dublin, rail projects are more operator led than planner led, as discussed with us previously. It struck me that this would be a good opportunity to address that. Is there a plan to address the gap?

In the case of rail provision and railway station development, NTA powers currently do not extend beyond the boundary of the greater Dublin area. Following the enactment of this legislation, the NTA will be empowered to plan for such provision.

That deals with the gap. That is a very welcome development and it is worth noting. We dealt with the matter here previously.

I will turn to the Estimate and the Vote itself. Can I be given information on the number of operators that have applied for assistance under the road transporters support scheme, RTSS?

The scheme is closed now. Something like 4,400 applications have been received.

Those are applications from members who are licensed hauliers, people who are private owners and those in coach tourism. The total is 4,406. Of those, 2,264 are licensed hauliers, 456 are licensed passenger operators, which would be coach operators, and 1,686 are own-account hauliers.

Are we assuming that all applications will be successful or how is that being adjudicated? What is the expected success rate?

The process of evaluation is ongoing. We hope that those who qualify without any queries will get their payments in two weeks. If some people are not getting payments, if there is an issue with them or they have been refused, there will be an appeals process to contest that decision or have it reviewed. The only information we have is that in previous schemes, percentages of applications in the high 70s or 80s have been successful. Those are previous schemes.

I get that and I thank the Minister of State for that clarification. We are confident that the number of successful applications will be covered by the overall Vote that is being assigned.

Yes.

Will there be headroom or will it be cut clear?

There is also the scheme for the boat operators to the islands. That has to be covered.

I was going to ask about that in a moment.

That will be a separate figure. The school transport operator scheme must also be covered. The scheme is being administered by the Department of education but the Vote for that is coming through my Department. That is within that overall budget. I am confident. I would not say that we will have headroom but we will be within budget.

Will the Minister of State give us an update on the engagement between his Department and the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht around the non-subsidised ferry operators and the other services to the islands and so on that are supported by that Department? What does that look like? When do we think we will have an implementation plan for that support?

In the coming weeks.

Will it be before the summer recess?

Yes. Since we put this scheme together, there has been ongoing discussion with the Department of community and rural development and, on school transport, with the Department of education. It is important that everybody gets the little bit of help they need now.

Do we have any sense from either the Department of education or the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht about the number of applicants in line there or are we waiting for the implementation plan before inviting applications?

We have estimates of what might be involved in it. We will have a better account of the school transport because providers are on a list. The number of ferry operators is very small. There are roughly around 20. They are all very important.

That is very good. It is important to highlight, as the Minister of State has already, that the support for Local Link services is being rolled out at the moment. That is being rolled out at the moment and there will not be any delay.

That is correct.

That is great. I will ask one question about the PSO seeing as it was mentioned by other colleagues earlier. We know there are new carriages to be delivered to be deployed to the DART+ Coastal North Project, for example, next year. That will free up stock for other lines around the greater Dublin area and the broader country. Will that have a knock-on effect for the PSO to be increased if we are going to provide additional services using those new carriages? Is that something of which the Minister of State's Department has sight at the moment?

The biggest problem we have with the PSO at the moment is that there is such demand for services all over the place, whether for Local Link, buses or trains. That is a great thing. We have to try to match that demand with PSO funding. I can see in the trains and bus services that are being put on that there is an increase. We are all the time monitoring what the costs are. We are all the time under pressure with the PSO funding. You project to a certain level and then you get so much money within the budget, and you have to work within that. Sometimes you cannot deliver all the new services you want to deliver. To go back to the Deputy's particular question, I will come back to him with an exact answer. All of that is being reviewed as we go along.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said to the committee that the OECD was going to come in and work with the Department on fares. Where is that at now? Is it paused? Where is that analysis at?

That work is still ongoing and no decisions have been made.

I wish the Minister of State good afternoon. As he probably knows, at the committee's meeting with Irish Rail two weeks ago, there was a lot of focus on the issue of the IT system and a €50 million writedown that Irish Rail has had to undertake. Indra is the operator that had the contract to deliver that particular IT system. It also has the contract to deliver next-generation ticketing. This is the idea that you can tap on to your bus, train or Luas with your debit card or phone. That particular project is being overseen by the National Transport Authority, NTA. Indra has not been able to deliver a key project on time and on budget for one of the public transport providers, namely, Irish Rail. Is there any additional scrutiny? Has the Minister of State's Department asked the NTA to undertake any additional scrutiny of the next-generation ticketing project?

When something fails like the IT project failed in Irish Rail, it is regrettable. It is taxpayers' money, as I said earlier. It is incumbent on us to ensure we are more vigilant in how existing contracts, not just for this company but for every other company, are managed. Our Department will be engaging with the NTA to ensure there is more intensive and regular scrutiny of how they are performing and if there are issues that they are brought to our attention earlier, so that we can see how to address them.

The Minister of State is confirming that the Department of Transport will ask the NTA to undertake higher scrutiny of this particular contract, and indeed other contracts. This is something that will happen. Nothing has been done to date. Is that correct?

The existing contracts have all been reviewed so that contracts, going forward, will have better safeguards within them. That has been done. It is also important to say that the NTA has got the message that it needs to have more scrutiny of the existing contracts and their progress. If there are issues within the contracts, the NTA must find out about them earlier. Early warning signs should be brought to our attention.

I am focusing on the next-generation ticketing contract. Some review of the implementation of that has already taken place. Am I right in that understanding?

I am not sure if any review has taken place. I know that in the course of a contract of that size, there are reports at intervals along the way. I am not sure where we are at in terms of how often they happen and I do not know if a review has taken place or is in place yet as a result of what has happened. I will check that out for the Deputy.

That would be great. Perhaps the Minister of State could come back to me in writing. I agree with him. We need to learn from what came out in this committee and at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts in recent weeks. I am not clear about how that learning is being applied to the next-generation ticketing contract. There are other contracts too but I am particularly passionate about the ticketing project. It will have a huge public benefit and will allow people to log onto public transport directly with their bank cards. I want real clarity on what has happened to date and what is planned. Will the Department be kept informed of any additional oversight that the NTA is conducting in this contract? It is not the Department's role in the first instance but the Department, the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, ultimately have political responsibility and I want to understand whether political oversight is taking place in this particular area. If the Minister of State would come back to me in writing, I would appreciate it.

I will move on to the Bill My understanding is this Bill is necessary for BusConnects Cork to proceed legally. Is that correct?

Yes.

Assuming this Bill passes quickly, and we make a decision to waive pre-legislative scrutiny with a view to doing that, can the Minister of State set out his understanding of the timeline for delivery of BusConnects Cork?

The planning permission application will be lodged this year. If the Bill is passed, the application will be lodged this year.

After that, I do not know if we have an overall project plan or implementation plan, but basically we need to get the planning permission in this year.

I thank the Minister of State for that. I will bring in one other issue to do with the NTA. Two real-time monitors at our bus stops in Blanchardstown village have been out of action for the last three months. Likewise, the one outside Leinster House on Kildare Street is also out of action. I have been following up on that. The NTA has come back to me to say that a rule has come in that sometimes the real-time monitors cannot be plugged in to the council's electricity network anymore. These monitors are really important for delivery of public transport information to commuters, particularly elderly commuters who may not have the app on the phone. Some rule has changed and I have not been able to find out what it is. All over the country, the real-time monitors are being disconnected and then the NTA has to look for a new solution and it has to get a new opening licence with ESB Networks. We all know how long that takes if anyone is trying to get a house or anything connected. There is an expense to it as well.

The NTA has come back to me to say they are looking at different solutions. They might put solar panels on the bus shelters, which is a great idea, or they might put batteries in. It just strikes me that this is being undertaken in a very ad hoc way and that because some rule has changed large parts of our network of real-time monitors are at risk of being turned off for a long period of time. The ones in Blanchardstown village, the ones right beside my house and the ones I depend on, have been gone for four months now. They have been gone since January and I have been trying to follow up.

Is the Department aware of this? It seems a rule came in and there is a knock-on consequence that could see, in a piecemeal way, real-time monitors being knocked out and being out of action for considerable periods of time all over the country. I do not ask the Minister of State to know what is happening with the one on Blanchardstown Main Street, but is he aware of this pattern? Is the Department aware of this pattern? If not, maybe there could be engagement with the NTA and perhaps a structured plan to address this particular issue.

First of all, it is news to me. I do not know what is happening out in Blanchardstown but maybe I will go out and have a look-----

And just outside Leinster House as well. The Minister of State can pop out and have a look himself.

I am concerned about some of what the Deputy said. If the local authority was not going to give power it was not that it just woke up some morning and said "We are not doing this". It probably gave ample notice, but it sounds to me like a strategy was not put in place so there could be a changeover from one supply to another in an orderly fashion. There is no point in us having all of this infrastructure up there if it is not being used. It is a concern for me and we will try and get to bottom of it.

If the Minister of State and his officials could follow up on that I would really appreciate it. The bus users in Blanchardstown would appreciate it too.

I thank the Minister of State for his time today. In his opening statement the Minister of State mentioned that the RTSS would complement the wider package of supports, including the reduction in the excise rates. Just last week the Government voted through the Finance Bill 2026, which would end the excise reduction on petrol and diesel. This means that from 1 August the price of diesel will jump by 32 cent and the price of petrol by 27 cent. Obviously, that will be a massive price increase. It would be a massive cliff edge. The Minister of State will surely recognise that households are not in a position at the moment to deal with that in the context of rising costs across the board and in the context of 500,000 households in arrears on their energy bills. The Government is also set to go ahead with carbon tax increases in October, adding to that burden on households. Can the Minister of State give us any assurance here today that increases of this scale are not going to be put on households and that households will be protected from increases in the price of fuel?

I presume what the Deputy is talking about is the Finance Bill adjustment that was brought in. That was to legalise the reduction in the excise duty. It was brought in on the basis that it was for a period of time and would be reviewed. That is what we set out when we brought it in initially. What went through the Dáil was the enactment of the legislation to allow that to happen. That was taken on the basis that the supports would be reviewed again but that the existing one, as it was, was for certain time period. The simple reason for this is that we have to look at how the geopolitical situation evolves. We cannot just put something in place that is open-ended without having some sort of a review of it. This is why a time was put on it, and that it would be reviewed.

I understand that but, as it stands in the legislation that was passed, these price increases will take place from 1 August. That is causing quite a lot of concern for people. I am asking the Minister of State if he can give an assurance today that this will not happen on 1 August.

The answer I have given to the Deputy, and will give again, is that it will be continuously reviewed. We will see what we have to do as we look at the geopolitical situation and at the price of fuels and whether they are going up or down. That will dictate how we deal with it. We cannot look into a crystal ball. We have to wait and see what world events will bring. We were targeting it up until the end of July. That is the period we took when we had to put in supports. We look at it and we are continuously reviewing that.

In relation to the public service obligation, PSO, we are being told there are not going to be any new public transport services this year. The Minister of State will be aware that Athenry has been left without a direct bus route to Galway city for two years now. A new bus service has been promised for the past two years. It is very concerning that we are being told there is no money available for new public transport services. It was very welcome to get the news last week that the 6.50 a.m. train will be maintained but we desperately need a bus service in Athenry. Is it possible to get any indication of a timeline as to when we can expect funding to be in place and a bus service to be up and running in Athenry?

I cannot give an exact timeframe on it. I have been focusing on making sure that the bus service, which was put in there on a temporary basis while the works were going on, will be continued. We will continue to work on trying to get the bus service up and running.

The PSO funding is under pressure because there is such demand for it. You could look at it and say that is very positive. Under the budgetary process we have we need to be looking, hopefully, at more funding becoming available to enhance and extend the services. As I said, and I do not know if the Deputy was here or not for it, we have increased the PSO funding. This year it was increased by some €200 million. The Local Link service, which is very important in our constituency, has received an increase in funding up to €31 million. It is not enough but it is an increase and we need to keep that momentum and trajectory going.

With the likes of the western rail corridor opening up we will see more demand for services and we have to deal with all of that. It is a good thing. When we opened the western rail corridor from Ennis to Athenry there were something like 132 passenger journeys on it in 2011. Last year we had 770,000 passenger journeys. This really and truly shows the value of public transport, which I know Deputy O'Hara is passionate about, like myself-----

We do have quite a lot of demand for rail services, which is a very positive thing, but then we have an issue at peak times, particularly in and out of Galway city, with real overcrowding on services. We have been told before that new carriages will not be available for quite some time. Is there any update on that?

New carriages have been ordered. I was over in Korea and I met the company that is manufacturing them. When we order carriages it takes up to six or seven years to get the carriages delivered. There is a timeframe in which we have to wait for them. Think about where we were ten years ago when nobody was interested in buying as there was no money to buy additional carriages. We are now in that space where we are buying carriages on an ongoing basis. That is the important thing. We are electrifying some of our carriages. We are starting that process and some of them are in testing at the moment. I think they will be in operation next year. That again will free up more carriages for other lines.

Next year at some stage-----

There are all kinds of things happening in terms of that.

In relation to the Athenry ring road, I see that funding has been announced through the housing activation office. There are concerns that for the eastern section of the road, that funding only represents part of that section. Is that something the Minister of State's Department is engaging on? What is being pursued there?

To clarify, the funding that has come to the housing activation unit is to put in a section of road, to open up land, to service it and to allow the building of houses. That is coming from the Department of housing. What we will be looking at in the Department of Transport is the rest of the ring road that needs to be done.

Will that full road be funded?

That is the plan. It is all there to be done. In fairness, when that road is done - no more than what will be done in Galway, Gort or Claregalway - it will open up the potential to build more housing beside where we have train stations and transport hubs so that fewer people use cars and more people use public transport. The plan is to have what we call transport-orientated development, and build the houses as close as possible to where transport is, so that people will be able to use it. Athenry is a prime example of this and Gort is another good example. If we can build another couple of hundred houses in Gort, Athenry and Tuam, then we are in business.

For my own slot I want to speak first about the RTSS. It has been confirmed that the closing date for applications was 13 June and we have 4,406 applications. Bearing in mind that the applications closed on 13 June, what is the full extent of the cumulative value of those 4,406 applications?

We do not have that figure because we are evaluating the applications.

Are we confident that it is greater than or less than the €120 million? What happens if that figure is greater?

It will be less. Within that €120 million there is a sum of money allocated for the boat people and for school transport as well.

I accept what the Minister of State is saying, based on previous schemes and the 80% compliance rate. Is there any concern that the applications received could potentially exceed the allocated amount set aside in the Estimates?

No.

That is not a concern. For the road hauliers and the three-month period, did the Minister of State say earlier that they can expect to be paid within the next two weeks?

The payment process will begin in about two weeks' time. Not all people will get paid on the same day. It will be one payment for the three months, and it will be paid as a bullet payment. If an application comes in and it is what I would call "clean" in that there are no issues with it, then it goes straight for payment.

Is the payment period over a number of weeks? When do we expect all applications to be processed? I am talking about HGVs. I know there is a scheme for one to five vehicles. When do we expect all HGV applications to be paid?

Everybody will get paid once, no matter how many trucks or whatever they have, if they qualify for the payment. We will start the process of the payments going out-----

Within two weeks?

-----and they will go out on a continuous basis after that. There may be delays for people who are appealing but we will go through the entire process with them.

Okay, but we would expect a substantial number of the HGV applications to be paid by the end of July. Is that correct?

Yes, absolutely.

This is the key question. Bearing in mind that fuel costs still remain elevated, does the Minister of State support the extension or expansion of the existing scheme beyond this three-month period, as I do? I believe that Government has made a commitment to make that decision by the end of this month. I know the Minister of State is privy to negotiations, to be very clear. I am asking him on a personal level whether he supports the extension or expansion of the scheme beyond this current period, bearing in mind the extent to which many of our hauliers are continuing to be under serious pressure.

I would say three things about this. The scheme is for March, April and May, which were the worst months. We are still in continuous discussions with the road hauliers. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and I had a meeting with them this morning. We are trying to ascertain what will be required going forward and what will be required from a budget point of view. Those discussions are ongoing. I cannot say-----

Is the Irish Road Haulage Association calling for the extension or expansion of the scheme?

No. At the moment what we are looking at is how we can support the logistics and transport industry, because it is such a vital cog. We are asking how we can continue to support the workers, maybe not even financially but by making some of the processes, such as obtaining a driving licence, more meaningful and efficient. We are dealing with a range of topics. I am not going to say to the Deputy who is calling for what. The Irish Road Haulage Association is well fit to talk for itself. Genuinely, we are in discussions with that association and other representative groups, like we did previously. I remind people that the scheme that is in place was almost fully negotiated before the protests happened.

Does the Minister of State expect the Government to make a decision about any extension of the scheme by the end of this month?

I do not want to say that the Government will do this, that or the other by a certain timeframe. What I would say is that when we put these schemes in place, we said that they would all be reviewed. That is what we are doing, in consultation with the operators.

In principle, I support what is before us today. I want to put on record the concerns the committee has about the governance structures of the NTA and the shock about the evidence before this committee from Irish Rail about the impairment of €51 million. The chief executive of Irish Rail expressed no confidence in Indra. I know it has to make a decision at its board meeting, perhaps this week or next week, on the wider future of the project. The NTA audited that particular project annually between 2015 and 2023. On each occasion it gave it a glowing report. Yet, 18 months later there was that impairment. There are serious concerns in respect of this. Other members have mentioned next generation ticketing. I am scratching my head about it. The timeframe for the roll-out of that project is 2028 and that is only for the Dublin metropolitan area. I cannot understand that I can get on a Local Link bus in Tipperary and pay for my fare with my credit card but I cannot get on public transport in Dublin and do the same. I just want to highlight the committee's concerns in terms of governance structures within the NTA and in terms of these other megaprojects we are currently looking at, including MetroLink and BusConnects.

In the little time I have left, I want to mention the crisis and the shortfalls in our local roads across the country. I know there is a lot of engagement with local authorities and the Department. I do not know if there is any figure for the cumulative shortfall across all local authorities. Do we have a figure or is it that we just do not know what that shortfall is? The moneys available in 2026 and the inflationary pressures mean that for local authorities, it is a case of doing fewer and fewer roads. I am concerned about the replies to me from the Minister. He has said that local authorities are expected to find the money elsewhere. That is not an option. The finances of local authorities are in a very precarious position. The option for most local authorities is to do fewer roads or to look at revenue-raising measures. The only options open to them for raising additional revenues are housing rents, commercial rates or raising the local property tax. The question is whether the Government provides additional resources to address the crisis of the condition of our local roads. Are we saying to local authorities to do fewer roads or are we saying to them to increase housing rents, commercial rates and the local property tax?

I do not think we have seen or received any correspondence in relation to what the overall shortfall is, compared to what local authorities got. There can be differences between local authorities in terms of what their shortfall might be. I appreciate that costs have gone up.

These were outside of all our control.

We are here today to talk about the €130 million that the Department of Transport is putting into the transport sector, which should help reduce the costs by a good bit. I hope that is happening on the ground, because it is important that it do so. If we are putting funding into a scheme for the construction and plant hire business, it will have to show a good effect in terms of a reduction. That is what we are trying to do here. You would get the benefit of a support----

As a Minister of State within the Department of Transport, I ask him to be a strong voice for additional resources for local authorities. His and my constituents are interacting with these roads every single day, sometimes several times a day, and the condition of their local roads really matters.

The Minister of State is welcome, as is the Bill. It is a technical Bill to provide a clear legislative framework for the NTA to act outside of the greater Dublin area, which I welcome. There are many key projects, such as BusConnects in Galway and other projects that the Minister of State has listed.

One of the issues I have raised with the Department and the Minister relates to regional offices for the NTA. The Minister of State has said that it is a matter for the NTA and not the Department, which I acknowledge, but there is merit in the NTA having an on-the-ground footprint in the major cities, if not regionally, that would liaise with local authorities and community groups as necessary.

I will give a case in point. Probably all public representatives in Galway West engage with the NTA about the 424 route in Bearna arriving full. We are requesting that there be a new bus route starting in Bearna or Na Forbacha that works its way in. We need to have officials from the NTA who can come out and see what is going on, meet public representatives and community groups, and feed that back. Seeing is believing and engagement is better when done on the ground regionally. Is this something the Minister of State would agree with? If it were to be considered, I am sure that there would be a State office space available, be it in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, or some of the local authority's rental buildings, for example, which might be available and could save money.

I agree that the NTA is a national organisation and we miss it locally. I do not expect it to be in every place, but from my own perspective down in Galway, much like the Deputy, it is important that we have some level of access to the NTA to show what is happening on the ground. If you look at the national road design office in Galway, it is accessible. You are not going into it every day but it is there if you need it or if a problem arises. I would see merit in that, and I will speak to the NTA to see if it would consider this as an option.

As the Deputy said, there is plenty of space available. The offices would not need to have big populations, just people who understand what is happening on the ground and can get a feel for it.

I welcome the Minister of State taking that up with the NTA for discussion.

Regarding the Bill itself, it relates to one area, but looking into it, Dublin Transport Authority was established in 2008. It amalgamated several other agencies and changed into the NTA in 2009. Has the Minister of State looked at the membership of the NTA? Back in 2008, that membership was:

(2) The chairperson and ordinary members of the Authority shall be appointed by the Minister as follows:

(a) the chief executive of the Authority as an ordinary member ...

(b) the holder of the office of Dublin City Manager as an ordinary member, for as long as he or she continues to hold that office ...

When it was the Dublin Transport Authority, that made sense. However, as a national transport authority, I do not believe that exclusively having the Dublin city manager, now CEO, has merit. There are other local authority CEOs. Obviously, you cannot have every council CEO as a member of the State agency, but should there be a more reflective position on the board, such as the chair of the County and City Management Association, CCMA? Is there another method other than having the chief executive officer of Dublin City Council as a member? That is from my reading of it. I do not see anything in the 2009 Act, so I expect that the membership is reflected in the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008.

I agree that the structure there is probably a legacy of the Dublin Transport Authority. It is something that we can look at. It is a national organisation as opposed to a regional organisation, and it should reflect that in its board membership.

Will the Minister of State look at that in advance of this progressing?

Absolutely.

There will not be another easy opportunity, as it were, to change that.

That is an excellent suggestion. With the agreement of members, the committee will formally write to the Minister about how, given that it is becoming a State agency, its board should be reflective of that wider State remit rather than the Dublin remit.

Just to say, there is a Bill coming forward in 2027 in which the membership of the board will be amended to reflect its national remit. There is also a plan to set up the National Transport Authority advisory council, which was not there before.

This is a short, quick Bill to try to get the planning sorted out in Cork and to allow the NTA to go into Galway, Limerick or wherever for BusConnects in the first instance. More changes will be coming with the Bill next year to allow what the Deputy has said, which is for it to be reflective. We will be in contact with the committee on that.

I welcome that, and I will leave it there.

Before we move forward to the formal process of the Bill itself, does Deputy Currie or O'Hara have any additional comments? I might give them two minutes.

I want to discuss PSO funding. The Minister of State might remember that, last year, I very much focused on the fact that existing bus services were not getting the funding they required. It was impacting areas like mine in Dublin West, where key commuter routes were not being invested in and we were seeing ghost buses and full buses.

I welcome the commitment to stabilise existing services this year, but I have concerns regarding the binary choice between funding new services and existing services. I hope that the funding will be stretched to accommodate both at such an important time, when we are encouraging people to take public transport, there is population growth and there are increases in construction, particularly in my area.

I want to highlight the N8, a bus service that we want to see introduced this year from Blanchardstown Shopping Centre to Dublin Airport. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has already committed to it being introduced this year. I just wanted to keep that on the Minister of State's agenda and ask him to support it.

I also ask that the NTA listen to communities about what they need. There is a bus service in Dublin West called the 70. Under BusConnects, the NTA wants to take a direct route at peak-only times that would go into town. There is fierce resistance to it. Nobody wants that, and it is important that the NTA, at this juncture, reform how it is listening to politicians and communities.

There are competing factors when trying to maintain existing services and increase services within the budget that is there. However, we will be looking at that budget again for next year.

As regards the N8 Blanchardstown to Dublin Airport route, we will check that out to see where it is at and I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, about it. What the Deputy said about the NTA was something that Deputy Kyne also alluded to, in that local knowledge is important. Maybe we could have a better service with a bit of local knowledge as opposed to just an engineering solution, which is just straight lines at times.

That is not criticising engineers. I am just saying that we need to have that mix, so we get common sense back into decision-making.

Has the Minister of State’s Department had any engagement on Dunguaire Castle in Kinvara? I have raised this multiple times with the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke. He has outlined that a funding proposal would have to come from his Department of tourism and the Department of Transport to allow Galway County Council to acquire that site. This is what was done previously in the case of Bunratty Castle, and for another site in County Limerick to allow Clare County Council and Limerick County council to acquire it. Is the Minister of State engaged now with the Department of tourism on this issue? Is there any prospect of a funding proposal coming forward, so this castle can be acquired and reopened?

I have had discussions with the Office of Public Works, the Department of the Minister, Deputy Burke, my Department and the local authority in Galway. There is a lot of concern that the castle has been closed for the last three years. It is on the Wild Atlantic Way and is a very nice, scenic and much photographed place. My understanding is that discussions are going on now at official level between the chief executive and one or two of the Departments to try to find a solution to this problem. It may not be exactly what the Deputy is thinking of but a solution to this issue may be found fairly soon. I do not want to say any more about it. I would just like to see the officials having their discussions first and then see where we are at with it.

We will wait and see. It has been a long time coming, in fairness.

I also raise the issue of double-tracking from Athenry to Galway. In fairness, we have had positive developments in terms of the western rail corridor, the passing loop and the redevelopment of Ceannt station. Double-tracking, however, was not included in the investment plan following the review of the national development plan. This is an important infrastructure project to allow greater frequency of trains to Galway, especially once we have the western rail corridor up and running. Why has this project been left out of that plan? Can we expect to see it progressing? It is such an important project.

It has not been left out of any plan. It is in the-----

It was left out of the investment plan.

-----all-island strategy review as a project to be done. We are building the passing loop and station in Oranmore to provide better frequency of train services to Galway. We have developed the five platforms in the station in Galway city. As the Deputy said, we will be working on the western rail corridor. We will see further investment happening but we cannot do everything together.

Is there a timeline for the double-tracking?

To be clear, nothing is being left out. It is just that we must have projects going ahead in sequence so that, under the constraint of the budget, we get things done on an incremental basis. I do not have a date but I think it is in a category in the national development plan for delivery after 2030.

It should be a priority.

Between now and then, we have to get Oranmore station opened, Ceannt station up and running and the western rail corridor done. If we get those projects done, that will provide a good business case for the double-tracking, which I agree with.

That concludes the consideration of the Supplementary Estimate for Vote 31.

We often measure transport success in terms of kilometres and project delivery but for a person with a disability or a hidden disability, it is ultimately about travelling safely, confidently and independently. That is the key test, for this committee and for me, of every transport decision we make. I say that knowing there are disability advocates in the Public Gallery. I just highlight this aspect.