Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)

There are so many new services. It is great to see new services coming on stream but they are mainly privatised. An instance in my constituency involves route 821, which serves Caragh. The bus is not turning up or a proper bus does not turn up and it is a half-sized bus. There was an upsetting experience recently with a constituent with an intellectual disability who uses that bus to get to work. I contacted Martleys, which is the private company that delivers that service, three times but it has not got back to me. What kind of oversight applies to a privatised route like that to make sure the company is providing an appropriate service and is answerable to its customers?

Mr. Gillard spoke about the fair fares. Kilcock and Sallins are in zone two for rail. Fares there have gone up. Yes, it has had a great effect and I know my colleague in south Kildare was delighted with the rate reduction but, unfortunately, it has affected zone two very badly. I know the NTA's fares determination dictates that increase. Is there any chance that it could look at this? I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy as well. Fares should not be going up because people will be less inclined to use public transport. Fares for children for a one-way trip to Dublin have increased from 65 cent to €1.95. Adult fares have gone up from €3 to €3.90. The NTA has done a great job but we need to look at that anomaly.