Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is good to have the opportunity to discuss the extension of the €2 limit on the public transport fares as far as Skerries and Balbriggan but I would also like an explanation as to why we were left out originally. When the 90-minute fare was announced, it stated it would give Leap card customers the option to transfer between DART, commuter rail, Dublin Bus, Luas and Go-Ahead Ireland services in the Dublin area at no additional cost for 90 minutes. It is a very good initiative and we in north County Dublin would welcome it very much. We are so fond of it that we want to become a part of the scheme. I cannot understand why two towns in Dublin are excluded when towns outside County Dublin are included in the scheme, although I do not want to take any other place out of the scheme. Two of the towns I represent, one of which I live in and the other of which I have an office in, namely, Skerries and Balbriggan, have been left out of the scheme. We will all be getting the train into Croke Park next Sunday to cheer for Dublin because we are Dubs and always hope that Dublin will beat Kerry. I cannot understand why we have been excluded from this very good initiative.

I live beside the train station in Skerries and there is a constant stream of commuters in the morning and the evening. I have been approached by people when I have been on the train and they have asked me why we have been excluded. The have great words of praise for the scheme. We all want to see transport fares coming down and the Government has made some progress in that regard. However, to exclude those areas does not seem to make any sense. I have tabled a parliamentary question about the issue and I was not a bit satisfied with the response I got. I sincerely hope the response I get now will not just be a repetition of the previous answer, with no disrespect to the Minister of State. There is no good reason for leaving out Skerries and Balbriggan. There are significant numbers of commuters in those areas. They use public transport. The Government should encourage people to use public transport.

It states on the press release for the scheme that some exclusions apply. If I go from Skerries to Dublin city centre, it will cost me €3 rather than €2. If I go from Balbriggan to Howth, it will cost €3.90. However, if I go from Rush and Lusk train station all the way to Bray, it will cost me €2 as part of the Transport for Ireland, TFI, 90-minute fare. That does not make sense. If the Government wants people to use public transport, as we do and as I understand the Government does, it is sending entirely the wrong message by including towns in counties outside Dublin and excluding towns inside Dublin. This is intended as a scheme specific to the Dublin area and should include all towns in the county. It should include all commuters. The Fine Gael parliamentary party a couple of weeks ago passed a motion looking for the extension of the scheme to counties Meath and Kildare. I am not sure of the status of that. I do not want the towns I represent to be excluded. Many of the towns in my constituency are included in the scheme and we do not understand the reason that both Skerries and Balbriggan have been left out. We want to be included in it. We want to use public transport but we do not want to have to pay more than other people. We genuinely feel this is unfair.

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