Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State and the Senators. The devil is in the detail though. At the end of that very comprehensive run-around of the national transport network, the Minister of State's conclusion said it all. She said that, "This motion is generally in line with the principles of this Government and is broadly acceptable in [terms of] aspects, particularly [in] its call to move toward a more equitable" system. The Minister of State then went on to talk about the creation of a new medium hop zone as being "unlikely to feature as part of any future equitable distance-based fare system". This is telling us the answer and this is the detail. When The Kildare Nationalistor whatever local paper decides to talk about this story we need to set it in this context.

I am very familiar with the stations in Portarlington, Monasterevin, Athy and Sallins. I am also familiar with the stations in Bray, Wicklow and Arklow, which we touched on earlier as well. Given we have had the benefit of the Minister of State reading her response into the Official Record, I wish to take up the detail not with the proposers of the motion but with her. I want to share my comments with the House as well. What I was going to refer to regarding Deputy Richmond, and what he has in common with Deputy Alan Farrell and, indeed, with the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, is that they have all spoken in favour of having some sort of greater security on our public transport network. It will be recalled that I am a strong advocate of having a designated transport police system. We had this proposal in this House but it was rejected by the Government parties through a roll call vote, and the record stands.

Subsequently, however, we have had many issues concerning public safety. The Minister of State has, rightly, spoken about the Government's policy for public transport. I remind her now, in saying this again, that Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, published a report entitled Travelling in a Woman's Shoes. This referred to surveys and the real-life experiences of women in fear of travelling on our public transport network. This is the reality of the situation. This is one issue, and then we have the issue of disability. I am familiar, for instance, with the station in Newbridge, where people are having difficulty accessing a public toilet. I am not referring to people with disabilities, but they too are experiencing this problem. People are being told they have to get a key from somewhere and that someone will stand outside the door.

We are talking about public transport and safe public transport. We are talking about men and women being able to go around on public transport and not be abused verbally or physically, which is a common experience now. We have heard of terrible beatings, intimidation, slurs, hate speech and hate crimes occurring on our public transport, and yet we do not have a designated transport police force. I want to leave my focus on this issue with the Minister of State. We cannot make a decision today, but when we look back at some statements made by Deputies Alan Farrell and Richmond, and, indeed, by the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, these show they have all come out in favour of this proposition. They are all in Government, but somehow it is not all adding up.

I will leave the Minister of State with these short messages. I want clean and safe toilets in the stations in Portarlington, Monasterevin, Athy, Sallins, Bray, Wicklow, Arklow and in every other station on our transport network. I want people, men and women, to be able to travel on our public transport safely. It is important to address this point. I took a look, strangely, at Fine Gael's website, and I acknowledge this with thanks to the party. I say this because, in the names of Deputy Phelan and Senator McGahon, the website refers to high parking costs. These words are presented in these clipped, tight, concise press releases on the Fine Gael website. References are made to the need for the high parking costs of rail commuters to be reduced in line with new lower public transport fares. Furthermore, it is stated that lower parking costs for rail commuters would encourage even more people to take trains, which will be beneficial both for the climate and concerning the cost-of-living perspective.

Many people across parties, therefore, are dealing comprehensively with transport policy and some of our issues in this area. It is much more complex than just the hop, stop and move aspect and various tariffs and rates. This is about how people, particularly in rural communities, get to the transport networks. They have to park their cars and pay their fees. The Minister of State will be familiar with this aspect as someone who represents a constituency that has both urban and rural elements. There are challenges in this regard.

I will leave it at this. I reiterate my call that we should have cross-party support for the creation of a designated public transport police to allow people to travel safely. Who is going to go out on the DART tonight at 8 p.m. to travel to Drogheda and feel safe doing so? Not too many people will, and this is the reality. Many people are forced to do it, but not many are comfortable doing it.I would like to think public toilets will be open for people with disabilities and everybody else in the meantime.

I also wish to address the issue of how, in rural communities, we are linking people from rural towns and villages into the network and how they can have a reasonable fee for parking and fares. I thank the proposers of this Private Members' motion. It has given us an opportunity to discuss the issues. Perhaps the Minister of State will feed them back or her officials may be listening in. I would appreciate it if she fed that back into the bigger debate.