The last available full year figures for subvention allocated to the three Companies are from 2015 when the total amount of money made available amounted to €209million. Included in that amount is €19m that was paid to Iarnród Eireann's Infrastructure management business under changes made in accordance with EU law.
The full year cost of a 10% increase in those figures would be approximately €21m.
As the Deputy is aware, in last week's Budget I was able to announce €31m increases to PSO subvention funding and rural transport programme funding for next year. The allocation of funding is a statutory function of the National Transport Authority (NTA) and the NTA will decide upon 2017's exact allocation to each operator in the coming weeks.
However, I expect next year's additional money will provide for much needed improvements to public transport services such as -
- Rolling out 10 minute DART services;
- Extending Kildare Line commuter rail services through the Phoenix Park Tunnel and into the heart of the city;
- Maintaining progress with the bus market opening competitions.
It is clear that this increase in PSO funding is a welcome one and one which will assist the NTA and the operators in their delivery of services for next year.