Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his response. On 25 May 2011, people from Greystones paid 67% more than people from Bray to get to the city centre, while today they pay 66% more. That demonstrates how slow and gradual this process has been. If it continues at this pace, people of my generation in Greystones need not worry about it because by the time the anomaly is rectified we will be entitled to the free travel pass. There is no justification for the failure of bureaucracy on this. I accept a number of the points made and I acknowledge the great work done on the Leap card. However, I have received correspondence from the NTA and Iarnród Éireann acknowledging that when the DART was extended to Greystones, they never upgraded the pricing structure. Greystones has always been viewed as an add-on to the overall DART system. This needs to be rectified. I was told in 2011 that there would be a review at the end of the year and this would be addressed. Now these bodies are telling the Minister that there will be a review at the end of this year.

The people of Greystones are not looking for a more favourable fare than those elsewhere but they are seeking fairness in order that when people look at the DART map and see they are going one stop further south or north, they see some fairness. Bureaucracy needs to catch up, particularly if we want to encourage people to use public transport. It costs €9.60 return to travel from Greystones to the city centre compared to €5.80 to travel from Bray to the city centre. This acts as a disincentive to use the DART.

See this speech in context