Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 February 2022
91. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Transport if the announced 20% cut in transport fares will apply to those who have purchased annual taxsaver ticket for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10468/22]
View answerAs Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport; I am not involved in the day-to-day operations of public transport, nor decisions on fares. It is the National Transport Authority (NTA) that has responsibility for the regulation of fares charged to passengers in respect of public transport services, provided under public service obligation (PSO) contracts.
The Government is strongly committed to helping combat the rising cost-of-living being experienced throughout the country. In this context, a suite of new measures is being introduced by Government to help with this issue, including a 20% average fare reduction on PSO services until the end of 2022. These discounted fares will benefit the hundreds of thousands of people across the country who use public transport every day. A further €54m in Exchequer funding has been secured to allow for the introduction of these discounted fares, this is in addition to the REV22 allocations.
The NTA will work with the public transport operators in the coming weeks to commence rolling out these fare reductions across the public transport network in April/May. In light of the NTA's responsibility in this area, I have forwarded the Deputy's specific question in relation to the application of the fare reductions to the annual taxsaver ticket for 2022, to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if you do not receive a response within ten working days.
