merrion street

The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Mr. Shane Ross T.D. is today hosting a round-table discussion on public transport policy. This stakeholder event brings together  a wide range of representatives of consumer and passenger interests, public transport operators, staff and unions , business interests, environmental groups, research institutes and the academic community, regulators, legislature and policy makers who have been invited to participate. This day will allow for an open and inclusive exchange of views among interested players and commentators on the challenges and competing priorities likely to arise in the future across all aspects of public transport provision, including economic, social and environmental considerations. It will inform his Department’s work on reviewing public transport policy in line with a Programme for Government commitment.

Going into the event the Minister said:

I look forward to a robust and genuine exchange of views where all everyone will have an opportunity to participate. Everyone  will have a chance to put forward their perspective on how public transport policy can strike the right balance in enabling a fair public transport sector that sustainably meets the needs of the passenger, society, and our economy into the future. I’m particularly interested to hear what we are doing well, what we need to improve, how we can sustainably organise and provide public transport into the future.  I hope that today’s discussions will capture the breadth of the challenges ahead. I want this event to generate sound ideas that can help us address them: from meeting diverse passenger needs to alleviating congestion, from achieving sustainable public funding support to tackling climate challenges.

In recent weeks, I have announced some rural public transport initiatives, which have been warmly welcomed and on which I hope to build. Nonetheless, there have been some critics, such as Danny Healy Rae and Mattie McGrath, who are so dogmatic in their opposition to my attempts to introduce life-saving road-traffic measures, that they now oppose all of my initiatives. That sort of obstruction is not helpful and it does harm to so many. I hope today will be quite the opposite- constructive dialogue with those who want to find workable solutions to the challenges facing our public transport.

Note for Editors:

During 2017, the Minister expressed his willingness to meet all relevant stakeholders to discuss public transport policy once industrial relations disputes were resolved.  Today’s stakeholder round-table dialogue event follows on from that commitment by the Minister.