Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)

Three minutes is just not enough. I will give it a go. The national fares strategy aims to provide more consistent equitable fares structure across Ireland based on crow-flight distance travelled. As we discussed before, that is simply not accurate for zone 2 Dublin commuters. I will give an example. I received an email last night from someone who said she was writing again to complain about the train fare increase in Skerries and the new zone system. She lives outside Skerries. She got off the train in Rush and Lusk and got the No. 33 to Rush Road in Skerries. That journey cost €2 because it falls within the 90-minute fare. Skerries is not within the 90-minute zone, so if she had stayed on the train, she would have paid double that. She got to go on the train and the bus to the same destination for €2. If she had stayed on the train, it would have been €3.90. That makes no sense. It is not an equitable system. If one travels from Rush and Lusk to Skerries - 7 km - on a single ticket, it is €2.30. That is 30 cent more than it takes to go from Dublin Pearse to Rush and Lusk. It is not fair or equitable. It is not on a crow-flight distance travelled.