Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise today the current cost of student travel. I ask the Acting Leader to schedule a debate again with an emphasis on rural transport and commuting costs. There can be no doubt that the 20% reduction in transport fares, as recently announced, is welcome, but I have received a number of worrying emails and messages informing me that prices have gone up recently. This means that the 20% reduction will only cover the cost of the rise in student travel charges. The increase means that a young student from Newbridge is paying 74% of their SUSI grant on transport. As the Acting Leader can imagine, this is unsustainable. This young student is receiving a monthly SUSI grant of €336. They are now paying over €250 on rail and bus transport to further their education. The rail fare from Newbridge has increased from €180 per month to €218 per month. The 20% reduction that has been promised will result in this student paying what they had always paid.

I was also contacted by a student from my home town of Athy who is paying €15 per day on the train each day, as well as €25 on a Leap card each week to get from the train station in Dublin to their college. This adds up to €100 per week. In this case, the student could not get accommodation in Dublin, due to the lack of supply and the cost. However, they are paying €400 per month in transport costs to get to college. Their sibling is using a bus service from the town to Maynooth University and is paying €80 per week in bus fares to attend. Both of them have informed me that these costs remain even when existing student discounts for train fares and Leap cards are taken into account. I have previously raised in this House the case of a Monasterevin student who is also paying €100 per week to attend college. I know of similar cases right throughout south Kildare.

We heard during the week that the much needed and welcome youth travel card will not be available until later this year. However, even more worrying is the NTA response to my colleague Deputy Nash that commercial buses will not form part of this scheme. The reply states that under the circumstances it is not possible to provide a timeline for that element at present. The Acting Leader will know that in many rural areas there is no travel option other than a commercial bus. We need to hear from the Minister for Transport on this topic in this House.

I recently sent a submission to the greater Dublin transport strategy calling for a review of prices from commuting counties. I have outlined before the unacceptable difference between train fares in south Kildare, compared with north Kildare. The examples of these students paying such a high price for travel is a further cause of alarm for us all in tackling our climate crisis. These young people are our future commuters. We should be encouraging them to avail of public transport rather than giving them a fare reduction in one hand and taking it away with the other.I ask the Acting Leader to schedule that debate.