Dublin fare increases
Deputy Whitmore criticised fare rises in Greystones and Kilcoole after the Dublin-area fare restructure, despite some simplification and reductions elsewhere. The Tánaiste shared her frustration, noted anomalies in the new zonal system, and said the review was broadly revenue neutral.
This week we saw a new train fare structure rolled out around the Dublin area. While I welcome the simplification of fares, because I believe it was necessary, and also the reduction in fares for some towns, towns such as Greystones and Kilcoole have seen significant increases. This is really difficult to understand considering our transport emissions, the fact that we have to reduce emissions, the fact that we are not on track to do that, and the risk of having €20 billion in fines imposed on us by the EU if we do not meet our targets in this regard. The fare in Greystones has gone up by 30% for adults and something like 200% for a child, which is just incredible. Will the Government direct Iarnród Éireann to reduce the fare increases we have seen? As a matter of general principle until we get our transport emissions under control, there should be no increase in public transport fares for passengers.
Comment on this
As the Deputy can imagine, since both of us live in the area, I share her frustration on this. We know very well that as the review was carried out, there were some people, including in our constituency, who saw significant fare reductions, but there have also been what I regard as anomalies in that some towns have seen significant fare increases. In this regard, the Deputy rightly referred to Greystones and Kilcoole, two towns we know well.
The NTA and others will tell us that the changes are broadly revenue neutral, which is true, and that we are moving to a distance-based zonal system. The NTA believes the latter is fairer and easier for passengers to understand. However, this needs to be kept under review. From a policy point of view, we have taken a number of steps to try to help people with the cost of public transport, including the young adult card and the 90-minute fare. We have had money to extend that. We have seen a number of initiatives that have helped to reduce the cost and I would not like to see anything that counters that, so I am happy to continue to engage with the NTA on this, as I know the Deputy is. I will keep in touch with her on it.