Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, Laytown station is outside the short hop zone, which goes north as far as Balbriggan. Such stations have fares that are not well suited for the pay-as-you-go service provided by the Transport for Ireland, TFI, Leap card because cardholders would need to maintain a high minimum balance on their Leap cards before they could use them. The best fare for such intercity services is typically obtained by booking in advance, which again is not suited to the TFI Leap card. The NTA is actively investigating alternative ticketing solutions that would be better suited to intercity rail services as part of a next-generation ticketing initiative.

The NTA has adjusted a number of fares in order to mitigate the fares charged at the outside edge of the short hop zone. A number of tickets between Gormanston, Laytown and Dublin have either remained at the same price level or seen a reduction since 2018. The NTA is actively engaged on the development of a very flexible TaxSaver ticketing product suitable for occasional use in response to the change in public transport use as a result of Covid-19. It is hopeful of bringing something forward early next year.

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