Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Leader probably thinks I have a bee in my bonnet about Charleville railway station as I have raised it in the House a few times, especially the lack of facilities for elderly people to cross the tracks. Another issue that arose recently is the steep increase in the charges for car parking there. I am sure the situation in Charleville is replicated throughout the country. When I was first elected to the House car parking at the station was free. Three years ago a charge of €2 per day was introduced. Last year that was increased to €3 and recently it was increased to €4. That is a huge increase in a couple of years. If one is travelling to Dublin for a few days work such as we do in the Seanad - there might be three or four overnight stays - it is an extra €16 on the cost of the train fare. It will be as expensive as airport parking before long. CIE should be held accountable for that. It will be a disincentive to people using the public transport system, which we consider so desirable.

Senator Kelly raised an interesting point about road haulage. I have some views on that. It is well known that many of the main hauliers do not use the toll roads because they consider them too expensive. I am indebted to my colleague, Senator MacSharry, for the information that all toll roads are toll free for November as an incentive. The one exception is the M4 to Sligo. That is quite discriminatory as there should be one rule for everybody.

In that context, this country has acquired a great network of motorways in recent years. It is one of the many great things the last Government did, although people are probably only beginning to realise it now. However, the one thing that never caught up with the motorways is the mobile telephone signal. Vodafone, O2 and the other operators must step up to the mark in this regard. There are huge stretches of the M7 on which one cannot get a mobile telephone signal. I am referring to a driver with a hands free phone, should anybody have any other ideas about it. That should be dealt with because the same thing is happening throughout the country. These companies are making fortunes from their mobile telephone licences, but they are not giving the service people want.