Mr. Seamus McCarthy:

The National Transport Authority, NTA, was established in 2008 and has evolved since then to undertake a wide range of statutory responsibility mainly related to public transport planning and funding.

The authority's income in 2022 amounted to €1.74 billion, up from €1.54 billion in 2021. The majority of the income comes from Exchequer grant funding. Other income included €252 million in fare receipts.

The authority's expenditure in 2022 amounted to €1.67 billion. Just under half of this, €809 million, was in respect of public service obligation, PSO, payments. These payments are made to the operators of public transport in respect of public transport services that otherwise would not be financially viable. The associated contracts with the operators set standards of operational performance and customer service, including fare setting. The contracts also allow for the authority to impose PSO payment deductions where the operators' performance does not meet contractual standards, or to make incentive payments where performance exceeds standards. In 2022, performance-related deductions applied to public transport operators amounted to just over €17.3 million, up from just under €3.8 million in 2021.

The second largest area of spending by the authority in 2022 was in respect of the provision of capital investment grants to a wide range of bodies. This amounted to just over €735 million in the year. In addition to the investment funding provided to other bodies, the authority invested €102 million in the purchase of buses that were added to its own bus fleet, which is made available to public transport operators. The carrying value of the whole bus fleet in the statement of financial position was just over €400 million at the end of 2022.

I certified the financial statements on 23 May 2023 and issued a clear audit opinion.