2026-06-18

113. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Transport if he will seek additional investment in public transport in light of the fuel crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46090/26]

My question to the Minister is on whether he is going to seek additional investment in public transport in light of the fuel crisis. Two days ago, the Minister got the Climate Change Advisory Council's annual review of transport. It is pretty damning as an assessment in that, already, the sectoral emissions ceiling has been exceeded. The 2025 one is projected to exceed the second one. The report also calls for investment to be expedited in a range of public transport infrastructure projects. Will the Minister go along with that?

I am taking the question on behalf of the Minister. As the Deputy knows, offering a more affordable and sustainable alternative for many people, public transport has had a particularly important role to play in responding to the demand driven by fluctuating geopolitical developments, as we have said, which are consequently and consistently impacting the cost of fuel. As we all know, rising fuel costs increases the likelihood of car users switching to public transport. We have seen that but that modal shift is unpredictable. What we do have is an increase in people using public transport. As the Deputy knows, in respect of targeted measures to further support the impacted sectors, in April of this year Government approved and introduced a range of measures to mitigate rising fuel costs, including the road transport support scheme and additional supports for bus and coach operators, including providing TFI Local Link and school transport services. These supports, worth approximately €120 million over three months, are helping operators manage current pressures and maintain service levels. While operating in an uncertain environment, the immediate priority for our Department and the NTA has been to protect existing services and ensure continuity across the network within the resources allocated to the public service obligation, PSO, programme in 2026. Where opportunities arise to enhance services in a timely and practical way, these will be actively considered and progressed. The Department of Transport and the NTA continue to remain in close contact with operators to monitor demand and operational impacts. It is important to outline that we are carefully considering all aspects of what is happening at the moment within the available of resources, so that we can continue to provide effective, sustainable public transport where we can see benefits for the people. Additionally, our fare structures in Ireland for public transport compares very favourably with our European counterparts. I will come back further in the supplementary with other comments.

I thank the Minister of State. We are in a deep climate crisis and we are missing our sectoral emissions targets with regard to transport, as well as our targets as a whole, by a very wide margin. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. An immediate answer to both of those is investment in public transport. Yet, what the Government is doing is delaying investment in necessary public transport projects. I will quote from the Climate Change Advisory Council review: ... under the current National Development Plan ... DART+ South West construction will not commence until post 2030 and construction of Luas Finglas ... will not commence until 2029. The delays in construction for these shovel-ready projects are unnecessary. The Council believes that allocation of funding to advance both projects should be expedited and strongly recommends that the Government commit funding to these projects in Budget 2027. Is the Government going to do that? Why is this delay taking place? The Government cannot blame planning or funds. Is it because of grid issues? Data centres are effectively using up all of the power in the greater Dublin area.

The fundamental point Deputy Murphy misses is that we secured an extraordinary allocation of €940 million - an uplift of 43% - for our PSO services in the budget. I reiterate what the Minister said earlier, namely that the focus for this year is on stabilisation. It is about ensuring services that are already in place can operate reliably and sustainably and that we see progressive improvements in other services. The other point is that we are meeting our climate change objectives. More and more people are moving to public transport. There is a commitment to electrify the fleet. We have seen more investment than ever before in that area. We are very much committed to having a reliable public transport system that is a movement away from the old style of public transport provision to electric trains and buses. We are seeing that across the country and in the city of Dublin.

Can the Minister of State repeat that? Did he just say we are meeting our climate change targets?

We are meeting them in terms of moving away from fossil fuel vehicles to-----

Can the Minister of State repeat it on the record? We are meeting our climate change targets.

I am saying that we are moving towards the electrification of the fleet.

That is not meeting our climate change targets. Our legally binding climate change targets are set out. They state that we have to reduce emissions in this sector or that sector by certain amounts. The Climate Change Advisory Council review states, "The sector has likely exceeded its first sectoral emissions ceiling (2021–2025) and is projected to exceed its second (2026–2030)." The Government is not meeting its climate targets. It is not coming anywhere close to meeting its climate targets. It is trying to lull people to sleep by saying things that are inaccurate such as, for example, that we are meeting our climate change targets.

We are electrifying the-----

The fundamental point the Minister of State is missing is that the Government is choosing to delay investment in public transport against the advice of Climate Change Advisory Council. That is a fact.

Did the Deputy read the NDP?

I will ask again. Is the reason the Government is not proceeding with the project down to the fact that all of the power is going to the data centres?

Sure that is-----

I refer to the briefing note prepared for the Government's major project governance oversight group, which warned that there is insufficient power in the ESB network to support DART+. The target is 100%, and we need ten times more power. Where will that come from?

I know Deputy Murphy does not want to hear good news.

I would like some good news.

It is the job of the Opposition to hark and bark, and that is all right. We are politicians, and I understand that. One in every four euro is going on public transport investment and one in every eight euro is being spent on public transport. I reiterate that there has been 43% uplift in the budget for this year.

That was not the question.

I ask Deputy Murphy to read the NDP for transport. Has he read it?

I have.

The Deputy will have read about the Government's commitment to the provision of public transport, the electrification of the fleet, the purchase of new vehicles and the move away from diesel engines.

We are not charging the vehicles. The NTA told the Committee of Public Accounts that we are not charging them because the data centres are using all the power. We have electric buses that are sitting there not being charged.

This is not a back and forth. Allow the Minister of State to answer the question.

The Deputy does not want to hear good news. If he had his way, we would have no BusConnects, no Cork commuter rail, no MetroLink and no DART and he would be asking what are we doing.

We do not have 60% of BusConnects.

The reality is that we are developing a transport plan-----

Where is BusConnects?

Deputy Ó Broin got his answer earlier and did not like it.

I will be coming back in shortly. The Minster of State need not worry.