Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is certainly Christmas time in here, that question was teed up. The Government is committed to public transport and I assure the Deputy that I work very closely with Deputy Varadkar on the issues he has raised.

We all know 2013 will be a challenging year but we are working with everyone every day to maintain services and ensure they are delivered in a satisfactory manner. The push needs to be to improve the customer experience to get more people to use the services. The additional use of RTPI and Wi-Fi helps to create a better customer experience for everyone using the services, which is crucially important. Measures will be continually undertaken to achieve that.

There needs to be improvement in the commercial angle of CIE and how the individual three subsidiary companies commercially exploit their services. I have worked very closely indeed with CIE and its subsidiaries, even up until recently, to ensure that in 2013 there will be considerable changes and focus from the companies to ensure they commercially exploit their excellent facilities and services. Deputies should note, for instance, that Irish Rail has new offerings on its services across the country where those who book early get a concession. It is this kind of thing we need to promote in order to ensure more people use public transport.

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