Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

According to the Minister, unless integrated ticketing is introduced, there will not be scope for flexibility within the system, particularly in the greater Dublin region. I do not know how long the integrated ticketing project will take but the different parties to it seem to be locked in mortal combat. CIE and Dublin Bus are proceeding with their own scheme. A sum of €40 million has been allocated for the integrated ticketing project over the lifetime of the next national development plan. God knows when we will see it.

The Minister spoke about atypical employment but I do not know if he understands the point. If somebody commutes by train, which we want him or her to do, and works only two or three days per week, the Minister is basically saying he or she should buy a yearly ticket. However, does he understand the implications of that from a cost basis for somebody in low paid employment? The same applies to somebody taking the summer off on parental leave.

I know bus and rail companies are in business to make money but if we really want to encourage people to switch to public transport, the Government must do more to encourage public transport providers to have as many attractive packages as possible to get people to use public transport. Somebody may only work a couple of days per week because he or she job shares — I meet people on the train all the time whose work patterns reflect these scenarios — and it seems unfair that he or she must buy a yearly ticket.

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