James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for considering my points. I acknowledge the progress since last year. If I am still a Member next year, however, I will table my amendment again because there may still be some work to do in exploring it.

I take the Minister's points on board. I will respond to each of them. The providers are named in the primary legislation. I suggest that a review could recommend that a list of providers be extended. That could be included in the primary legislation, which can always be updated.

I believe there was a reference to the possible accrual, possibly accidentally, of a double benefit. At present, it is possible to travel to Dublin using one's taxsaver rail ticket, disembark at Heuston Station and then use a bicycle purchased through the cycle-to-work scheme at a discount to cycle to the city centre. This would involve rail and cycling as opposed to driving and rail. I do not know, therefore, whether what the Minister suggests in this regard is necessarily a problem.

I certainly agree there is a multitude of parking providers. Regulations are being introduced by the National Transport Authority at present on managing commuter parking. They typically concern clamping but also other issues that arise in parking management. It is possible that the regulations could be extended to include measures such as those I propose. In any case, the parking facilities are typically provided by the State providers, particularly Irish Rail. My proposal could be implemented initially in Irish Rail's car parks only if that would get around the difficulty.

As for the potential for overuse, I must disagree with the Minister's analysis or the Department's analysis. This matter arose last year. The same point has been made even though I responded to it last year. I am going to respond to it again. If we have the debate next year, let us hope we can move this on.

I do not accept the point that the ticket could be abused or re-used by multiple persons or entities because there is a very simple check. In the same way that a train ticket cannot be given to another person to use because it contains ID on it, by the same token a car registration plate could be used. As one typically does not swap cars around, the same car can be parked in a space in the station every morning. That is the system most parking systems use already as an identifier. It is built into the system. I suggest that the issue could be re-examined because there is a very simple way to address the concern. I thank the Minister for his response. I suggest that the issue could be looked at again as there is scope to revisit it. Some of the points that have been made could be countered. Where there is a will there is a way and it would be worth doing that.

See this speech in context