Parliamentary questions

334. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport the number of schools enrolled in the safe routes to school in 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026; the number of schools waiting to be enrolled; the breakdown of the number of schools enrolled in the programme by each county council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14809/26]

335. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport the level of funding that has been allocated to the safe routes to school programme in 2025 and to date in 2026; the number of schools that are availing of the fund; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14810/26]

336. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport the total cost arising from the reduced 20% public transport fares to the public and the reduced 50% public transport to students and young people under 24 years of age nationwide; if he is considering making the reduction permanent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14811/26]

337. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport for an update on his discussions with the National Transport Agency regarding the roll-out of Phase 8 (D-Spine) of the BusConnects programme; when he anticipates that the roll-out will commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14892/26]

338. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Transport the percentage of disqualified drivers in court which have surrendered their licence to the RSA, as required by law, in each of the past ten years for each county in the State [14900/26]

339. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Transport the amount of funding allocated to each local authority to be spent on bus shelters per year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14922/26]

340. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Transport if he plans to increase funding to local authorities for bus shelters in 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14923/26]

341. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport the minimum educational and professional qualifications required for vehicle inspectors employed at National Car Testing centres; the duration and content of their initial training programme; whether this training is externally accredited; and the body responsible for certifying inspectors prior to conducting independent inspections [15064/2…

342. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport the total number of quality assurance audits conducted on NCT inspection decisions in 2024 and to date in 2026; the percentage of inspections subject to secondary review; and the rate at which initial fail decisions were overturned on formal appeal in each of those years. [15065/26]

343. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport whether NCT inspectors are subject to performance metrics relating to throughput, efficiency, or statistical failure rates; if so, to outline the nature of those metrics; and whether any incentives or penalties are attached to inspection outcomes. [15066/26]

344. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport the oversight mechanisms exercised by the Road Safety Authority over the NCT contractor in respect of inspection consistency and inspector training standards; and whether any contractual penalties, compliance notices, or remedial directions have been issued in the past three years. [15067/26]

345. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport whether the Department or the Road Safety Authority has conducted any variance analysis of pass and fail rates across individual NCT centres; and whether the Minister will publish centre-by-centre statistical data for 2023, 2024 and 2025. [15068/26]

346. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Transport the current contract value of the NCT operator; the duration of the contract; and the date on which the next competitive procurement process is scheduled to commence. [15069/26]

347. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Transport following the refurbishment of the first class carriages on the intercity services from Dublin to Cork if consideration will be given to refurbishing the standard class carriages on the Mark 4 fleet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15078/26]

348. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Transport if he will outline what Irish Rail's plans are to replace the 201 class locomotive which are used on the Dublin - Cork and Enterprise train services; and if there are plans to replace these fleet of locomotives which have almost reached the end of their service life. [15079/26]

349. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Transport the engagement he has had with Irish Rail on introducing a half hourly service on the Dublin to Cork line at peak times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15080/26]

350. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Transport to provide a breakdown, by county of the number of recipients of the wheelchair accessible vehicle grant scheme for each of the past five years for which data is available, if the table will categorise grant recipients into new or existing SPSV license holders and the total amounts allocated per annum per county, if he will further stat…

351. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Transport if he will provide details of what he envisages for inclusion in the promised Taxi Regulation Amendment Bill; the current status of the bill; when he expects to bring the bill to cabinet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15101/26]

352. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Transport if he intends to legislate or bring in regulations that would allow for the development of ride sharing services in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15119/26]

353. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Transport if he will provide an update on the new regional airports programme 2026-2030; when it is expected to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15165/26]

354. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Transport if he will intervene to ensure there is a midday flight from Donegal to Dublin, which many patients in receipt of cancer care and other forms of inpatient and outpatient require; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15191/26]

226. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Transport to clarify if Shannon Airport is being used as a stopover point for flights chartered by the US’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency; if the Minister can provide the number of such flights that have used Shannon Airport in the last 12 months and the dates for same; if the Minister can clarify whether these flights were insp…

227. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Transport the measures his Department is implementing and considering to support small transport companies who employ and train young people, given that many small operators are currently paying the full cost of training themselves while lengthy licensing processes significantly delay new drivers entering the workforce; and if he will make a statement…

228. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Transport his plans to address harness racing on our roads; to provide an update on the Horse-Drawn Carriages Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13467/26]

229. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Transport further to Parliamentary Question No. 277 of 12 February 2026, to clarify the definition applied by his Department to the terms “unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs)” and “unidentified flying objects (UFOs)” as referenced in his reply; the way such observations are classified within Ireland’s occurrence reporting framework under Regulatio…