John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The most recent Eurobarometer survey on satisfaction levels with public transport across Europe very interestingly found that 9% of Irish respondents were satisfied with the price of public transport, while just 8% of Irish people use public transport once a day, less often than almost every other country in the EU. There are many reasons for this, including the convenience and proximity of transport services. However, the quality of services offered on Irish trains, in my experience, is a major factor.

I am sure the Minister is well aware that Irish Rail regularly makes headlines for publicly apologising to passengers who have to stand in carriages. Most recently, a 12-year-old boy shamed the company into an apology for his 76-year-old grandmother, who was forced to stand for a three-hour journey because there were no empty seats left on the train. The child likened the journey to something in a Third World country. These are all facts. I can deal only with Waterford. Occasionally I use the rail service to Waterford, as do many others. I have debated this with the manger of Irish Rail in Waterford. I have observed senior citizens and pregnant women crammed into carriages like cattle for a lengthy portion of the journey. Last year, I learned that passenger journeys on the Waterford service had fallen by approximately 3,000, one of the worst drops in the country. I cannot say I was surprised. In the weeks before and during Christmas last year, when the trains were packed to capacity, there were three carriages on the Dublin to Waterford train, with the result that dozens of people had to stand in the aisles as far as Kilkenny. Many of these people were looking after young children and had bags of shopping with them. I cannot understand it.

If the Minister is Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in the next Government, which I hope he is, something will happen in Irish Rail. I have been on trains in which whole carriages of people were standing. If a train has to stop urgently or if there is an accident, the Government will have to do some critical analysis. This has been going on for many years. There was a debate on my local radio station and, as far as I remember, there was no problem with people standing. One cannot stand on a bus or in a car. Trains travel at 80 km/h or 90 km/h. People should not have to stand on a train. This is happening all over Ireland, and the Minister is probably aware of it; I do not know. I have put it on the record of the Dáil that it is a disaster waiting to happen. I hope it does not. If people are standing on a train that is going at 80 km/h or 90 km/h and the driver has to brake urgently, somebody will be injured. There is no question in my mind about it. The company will continue to see a decrease in the use of the Waterford line, and others, unless it addresses the shortcomings in the service. Given that one is not allowed to stand on a bus, why should it be different on a train?

The price is not competitive and customers are not being given the comfort for which they pay. It is an insult to ask somebody to pay €47 to go from Waterford to Dublin. The people who get on the train in Kilkenny and Carlow will certainly stand all the way to Dublin.

When I think about the €47 charge, it strikes me that despite all my criticism of Ryanair, it would be cheaper to travel via Ryanair. It is ridiculous and outrageous that people are being charged €47 for a journey of an hour and a half when it is likely that they will have to stand for an hour.

I understand that despite this chronic overcrowding, more than two dozen Irish Rail carriages that were retired at the height of the recession as passenger numbers fell are still lying idle. I was told this by people in the company. I believe that these surplus carriages went on sale in 2012 but were not sold. The Minister might find out whether this is accurate. Am I to believe that the carriages which were taken away from Irish Rail services are still lying around in yards somewhere in Ireland, even though hundreds of passengers will have to stand all the way to Dublin on tomorrow morning's 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock and 8 o'clock services from Cork and Waterford? It is just not acceptable. Will the Minister speak to Irish Rail about dealing with the overcrowding and putting these carriages back on track?

I want the Minister to think about a final point I will make in this context. I do not intend to be condescending when I say that as a very intelligent man, he needs to think about what might happen to passengers who have to stand for an hour and a half on a train that is going at 80 km/h or 70 km/h. I suggest that something is going to happen unless this is stopped. It has been going on for years. Irish Rail pays no attention to public representatives. When I get off the train and tell Irish Rail staff what has happened, they say, "We are very sorry about that, John, and we will see what we can do about it". People ring me the next morning to tell me that the same thing has happened again. The last time I went on the train, having decided to take the train rather than the car because I needed to do a great deal of writing, I had to give up my seat after 20 minutes. It would not fare well for a Deputy to be sitting while a woman is standing, so that ended that. This is not the issue, however. The issue is that overcrowding is happening throughout the country. The service is poor, bad and dangerous. I am saying now - I want it recorded that I have said this in the Dáil - that something needs to be done about this dangerous service before something critical happens.

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