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

The Minister and I again find ourselves discussing Kildare transport in the Chamber. I am beginning to feel a little bit like a broken record, but that is because the system is still broken and we are trying to fix it. I ask the Minister for his assistance today with that and with expediting some solutions. It has been well documented, not least in our debates, where the problems are.

The first debate I had in the Chamber was with the Minister, Deputy Ross, on transport issues but the problems go back further back than the arrival of either of us in the House. The problems have worsened. In part, that is a due to the success of the improved service on the Newbridge line, serving Sallins and Hazelhatch. The stations of Sallins and Hazelhatch are now in the Leap card short-hop zone and the trains go through the Phoenix Park tunnel. That is all very welcome. I came in on that train this morning and I will return on it in about an hour's time tonight. The problem, however, is that the capacity of facilities has not kept pace. Naturally, increased demand has followed the improvements. We welcome the growing economy and other reasons for people being back on the trains again but we have a chronic shortage of car parking in particular. The carriages are full as well. Just before I rose to my feet I got a report that the 5.30 p.m. train leaving Heuston Station this evening is chronically congested again but even getting a space in the morning to park one's car in the morning so one can get on the train has become almost impossible. In my case, it is probably a year since I have been able to get my car into the station in the mornings. Many people are finding the same difficulty.

One needs to be at the car park of the Sallins and Naas train station between 7 a.m. and 7.15 a.m. at the latest to have any hope of being able to park one's car and get on the train. That is a crying shame for many reasons. It is highly stressful for the individuals involved who are trying to juggle childcare, getting to work and other commitments and it is made more difficult by having to fight for a space that it is almost impossible to get at such an early time. It is a shame for society that people are being forced away from public transport. We all support the goal of improved public transport and public transport being the primary mode of transport. I would love to see a situation where the car would become the exception, other than for a trip on a Sunday afternoon, and the norm for going to work was on the train or Luas. However, unless we can provide people with the facilities and space to park a car in the first place and enough room on the train to stand, sit or manage to squeeze on then we are nowhere near getting there.

This situation was entirely predictable. We only need to look at the planning permissions being granted for houses in the Naas, Sallins and Clane area, which has grown and is growing. There are many developments there as there is much to recommend the area. It was entirely predictable that those demands would be placed on the train service because the train station is at the heart of the community and it is a commuter hub. All the planning permissions were granted on the basis of public transport being available to the area but, essentially, it is no longer available and people are being forced into their cars to drive into Dublin. People are fighting with each other in the mornings over available spaces and they are being forced into local housing estates, thereby clogging up the entire village and causing all kinds of acrimony. In recent weeks Irish Rail had to appoint a staff member to police the car park in the mornings and to avoid the literal, as well as the metaphorical, scrapes because the situation has reached a crisis point. People have nowhere to park and they cannot get the train into Dublin in the morning. They bought a house on the promise of a public transport system being in place in the Sallins, Naas and Clane areas in north Kildare and they are unable to use it because they simply cannot get a car parking space in the morning.

I hope the Minister can expedite some solutions. The obvious solution is to build a new car park fast but I accept it is not as simple as that. There may be other solutions. I hope the Minister will have some good news for me today.

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