Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Public Accounts Committee

National Transport Authority - Financial Statement 2011

12:20 pm

Photo of Kieran O'DonnellKieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would have believed a telephone call would have established the resale value of the carriages. Let us assume they are worth half the original value - €21 million, at worst. If they had been sold, no subvention would have been required for Irish Rail last year. Can we take it that Mr. Murphy will find out the resale value of the carriages and advise the committee thereof? Furthermore, I ask him to find out the cost of storage.

As a user of Irish rail, I wonder about the measurements used regarding the final subsidy. CIE and its staff do a very good job and the trains run on time; I have no qualms about this. Broadband and mobile telephony coverage are a joke, however, and the food on the trains is of Third World quality. One can get nothing more than a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Eating habits have changed. If Irish Rail is trying to encourage businesspeople to use rail services, it must ensure telephone coverage and the availability of broadband of an adequate speed. Are these factors included in Mr. Murphy's measurements?

The service provided by Irish Rail staff to customers is excellent but I refer to infrastructure. I have taken trains on which there have not been enough carriages, the result being that passengers had to stand. Clearly, cutbacks are affecting the number of carriages per train. This strikes me as poor planning. Does Mr. Murphy take the measurements I have described into account? Rail travel is probably the most efficient and nicest form of travel, yet the infrastructure does not seem to be in place for those who want to use rail.

Mr. Murphy refers to 21 carriages sitting idle. I have contacted Irish Rail about this because I feel strongly about the provision of adequate rail infrastructure and am a believer in public transport. It is a contradiction that the 21 carriages are not being used when, in many cases, there are not enough carriages on trains. Despite this, Mr. Murphy cannot tell us the value of carriages, bearing in mind that there was an investment of €16 million in taxpayers' money in Irish Rail at the end of last year. If one takes care of the small things in life, the big things invariably work out. Could Mr. Murphy guarantee that, as a matter of urgency, he will revert to us with the resale value of the 21 carriages and the storage cost? Can we take that as a given?

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