Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Cathaoirleach. I thank Mr. Creegan for coming in today. I have several issues I wish to raise with him.

On the rail fare changes introduced, I live in north County Dublin. People there have been particularly badly impacted. Those living in Balbriggan and Skerries are now paying over 30% more for their rail fares. They are not in the Dublin city zone like all the other Dublin stations. Instead, they are in the Dublin commuter zone with the likes of Sallins, Greystones and Kilcoole. Skerries and Balbriggan feel very strongly that they are in County Dublin. The people there are Dublin commuters, and they should be treated like all other Dublin rail users. They should really be in zone 1 rather than zone 2. Those people are connected culturally and in every way to the rest of County Dublin. They feel they have been cut off now from Dublin. It is outrageous that we are piling such a high cost and an increase on those commuters. I spoke to one person who lives in Skerries. He told me that he works every day in the city centre. He has free parking in the city centre and now he is simply going to drive to work and not get the train, which he has been doing for years. That is completely unacceptable.

Around the time the fares were introduced, I heard Mr. Creegan talking about it. He said that it was not a money-making exercise and that there was going to be no change to the overall fare take. I put it to him that the commuters of Skerries and Balbriggan are subsidising other rail users on the network. Would he agree with this assertation? These people really feel shafted, especially given the context of the change in the timetable that happened last autumn. That caused major disruption for commuters in Balbriggan and beyond, and now this happens. It is completely unacceptable that the child fares have tripled. I have been contacted by many families who are outraged and dismayed. They have of kids going to school. They are doing their best to use public transport and now they have had this major cost piled upon them. I understand from what Mr. Creegan said that there is going to be a further review to correct the fare inequalities. Those are the exact words he used. Why were fare inequalities baked into the system when it was introduced a couple of weeks ago? Why were the inequalities for the likes of rail users in Balbriggan and Skerries not thought of before the system was introduced? I refer to the tripling of child fares. Why was this not thought of? If it was thought of, why was it decided to shaft these people or was it thought they would just not notice and the NTA would get away with it? Will the review consider putting Balbriggan and Skerries into zone 1 or is that completely beyond consideration for the NTA? Will the commuters there just have to remain in zone 2 permanently?