Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Hanlon for coming before the committee today. I have read her script carefully and it is clear she has set out an overall policy remit, not choosing a specific item here or there. I will try to keep my focus on policy.

First, has the Department a policy on public transport fares to ensure the setting of fares is evidence-based and that there is an equality between rural and urban fares? I received the most extraordinary statement from the NTA dated 16 October 2018 stating that as is common practice internationally, different fares apply in city areas reflecting the different operation characteristic in those areas as opposed to rural areas. I do not care what they do internationally. I do not live in an international area, I live in Ireland. I do not care what irrational policies they have anywhere else, I like to see Irish policy being rational.

Let me give Ms Hanlon a simple example of what is happening all over the country. If one takes the train from Dublin to Sallins, that journey is considered to be within the urban area and is half the cost of taking the train to Newbridge, which falls into the rural category. By going to the next station, the fare is suddenly doubled. When one asks the NTA or authorities, their response is that the way it was and that is the way it is and that is the way it will be forever, Amen. That is not a rational decision. On an expressway bus route, one can travel from Galway to Dublin for €20 but a bus from Galway to Carraroe costs something similar. I do not want to be fobbed off with the answer that this is a decision for the NTA, but I want to know whether the Minister has a policy set out for the NTA that all fare should be based on the same rationale and one cannot double the rate per kilometre just because one must travel a further distances down the road.

Is there a ministerial policy that lays down that Iarnród Éireann must do what it is meant to do, that is, provide on the railway lines it owns efficient national services and not just concentrate on a few routes?

From a study I have done it would appear there is a clear relationship between frequency, fares, timetabling and journey distances and when one puts all those factors together, one gets the passengers. I have looked on a spot basis, but has the Department looked at the massive latent potential arising from the interplay of those four factors? For example, there is a frequent train service from Athenry to Galway because there is the Limerick train. There are 399 people travelling on the train from Athenry, which has a population of 3,950, to Galway city and making the return journey every day. If one compares that service with the service from Clonmel to Waterford, one will find that practically nobody is travelling on that train, even though the population of Waterford is 17,140 and one would think that four times the number travelling from Athenry would be travelling, which is more than 1,000.