Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I had hoped that the Minister of State, Deputy Lawless, who is responsible for this area, would have been present to take this matter. I appreciate that the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, is here to take it and that I have the opportunity to raise it once again.

I reiterate my frustration not with the Minister of State but in respect of the issue I am highlighting, namely fair fares and the need for Government agencies to act and implement its policy regarding commuter fares equalisation. I have advocated very strongly and repeatedly for a better deal for the commuters of south Kildare. There is major disparity between the towns of Newbridge and Sallins, which are just down the road from each other. If I had purchased a return ticket this morning to travel from Newbridge to Heuston Station in Dublin, it would have cost €16.90. That was just the cost to travel from station to station - the ticket would not cover any of the public transport costs in Dublin city centre once I arrived. However, if I had travelled from Sallins, the next station along, the cost of a return ticket to Heuston would have been €7.20. That is a difference of 57% in the cost of travelling to Dublin from two stations that are just 12 km apart.I have worked closely with members of my own party, with Ministers and the NTA to equalise the price differential for commuters in places like Newbridge and Kildare town, which are just outside the short-hop zone. It is not just Kildare that is impacted, it is east Meath, north County Dublin, Drogheda and Wicklow. Seven key towns for commuters are affected. Two of them happen to be in south Kildare which I am obviously happy about. Where are we now? We were given a commitment that the fares determination as agreed would be implemented in September. In fact, the fares within Dublin went up on 23 June as part of the equalisation process. In Newbridge, the planned fare determination would result in a fare drop of 45% and in Kildare town, a drop of 37%. We have waited for years to reach this point and at the eleventh hour, once again, the process is being delayed. We are now told it will be implemented in quarter one of next year, 2025, but I can tell the Minister that trust has been broken and confidence on the ground is damaged. The reason we have been given for this delay is that contractors cannot deliver the timeline for technical reasons. That is simply not good enough. This is Government policy. It should be implemented in such a way that commuters feel the benefit of the reductions in their pocket until the technical hardware is in place. These technical issues should have been factored into the original timeframes. I did have the opportunity to question the NTA about that at the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications. I was not given any substance in response.

Subsequent freedom of information, FOI requests came to light and I thank KFM, my local radio station, for looking at this. It showed the series of critical delays primarily caused by late software updates and some internal confusion. However, this has gone on long enough, we have had years of excuses and reasons for this not being implemented. As a public representative for Kildare and representing the community of south Kildare, I will not let this go. I will continue to bring this up in every single forum that I can until we have an adequate and appropriate resolution on the fares.