Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Well done to the Cathaoirleach and to the team here in Leinster House on the lovely event yesterday. We all learned something from it. There was super engagement between our colleague, Senator Norris, and former President and Senator, Mary Robinson. I look forward to an enjoyable Seanad100 over the coming months.

The announcement last week of a 20% reduction in the cost of public transport is welcome. I have spoken on a number of occasions in this House about equality of transport costs and I believe the Seanad should take the lead on it. Fares to travel between Ennis and Limerick or Galway are dearer than between Maynooth and Dublin. What is good for one should be good for everybody. We need equality of public transport costs throughout the country to encourage people to use the network.

On a related matter, many students who are studying in Cork, whether in University College Cork or in other colleges, and people who work in Cork may now be living in places such as Thurles, Limerick Junction, Limerick City, or Ennis, but they cannot get to Cork from anywhere along the Dublin rail line until the first train at 9.40 a.m. If people in college in Cork have a 9 a.m. lecture and want to commute from Thurles to Cork, they cannot do so. I call on Irish Rail to add an extra service between Dublin and Cork that would leave at 6 a.m. and get in at 8.30 a.m. It would facilitate every stop along the line and people from Ennis and Limerick who want to commute to Cork to start their job or college at 9 a.m. Trains from Cork to Dublin leave at 5 a.m., 5.30 a.m. or 6 a.m. I regularly get them myself, connecting from Ennis. Irish Rail needs to add a service to the Dublin-Cork line, which needs to leave at 5.30 a.m. or 6 a.m. to get people who cannot afford rent or accommodation or who wish to continue to live at home in to do a day's study or work in Cork.