Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments on public transport. I agree on the success of the 50% reduction for full-time students and young adults, defined as the cohort between 19 and 23, to be able to avail of public transport. It is now also being extended to those aged 16, 17 and 18 who are in third level education. We see the uptake of people taking public transport which is what we want them to do. We want to encourage people to get out of their cars and take public transport. The way we do that is to make it more affordable for them. I absolutely agree that this is evidence of the value of making it affordable certainly for younger people and anyone who wants to use public transport.

Connecting Ireland involves the roll-out of public transport to ensure we have connectivity between towns and villages across the country. Some 85 Connecting Ireland services have been able to make improvements on foot of this supplementary funding. More generally, the NTA has also introduced 25 new enhanced services. There was a public consultation on this throughout the country. We want to continue to encourage communities to identify areas where there is a demand for rural public transport services if we are to encourage people to get out of the car and use public transport where possible. The engagement will continue on the roll-out of that. I also welcome the committee's work on that.