In his commentary Mr. Fearn referred to the upkeep, maintenance and management of the car parks and these costs were one of the reasons he introduced this charge. It is certain that at the stations in Drogheda and Laytown there is nothing to manage. There is a roadway and a space that was always there. The company has not invested or added value in Drogheda station, for example. The company is not spending money there and never has. This might be deemed a rip-off of consumers who have no choice except to use the car park. The company is adding no value by introducing this charge. This is a cynical money-grab by the organisation. No works have been commenced. The company says it will improve and provide more car parking spaces in these stations. However, the company has done no work and does not have planning permission. Therefore, any moneys the company acquires cannot be used for a considerable period of time for the purposes for which it says it is necessary.
Since the chief executive is employing NCP, or whatever it is called, to do the work of policing the car parks, the moneys received are being used to pay these people to do this work with very little profit for Iarnród Éireann. If and when the company builds multistorey car parks, the cost per space to maintain that investment will be extremely high. It will cost a good deal more to park at the railway stations than is proposed at present. I am concerned about the way this was been done, that it is a rip-off, that the company has not consulted, that it has not done any work or added any value.
Several issues have arisen regarding the money people pay. One point made at the time of the introduction of these charges — I believe it was this company but I am not sure and perhaps Mr. Kenny can respond to this issue, which was in the media anyway — was that they could be included in the tax saver system. It may not have been Mr. Kenny but the idea was that the money the consumer pays for using the company's car park could be used as part of the tax saver system. Has the company approached the Minister for Finance to make that change? Does the company agree it would be much more equitable if such charges that consumers must pay were included? We are discussing regular weekly, monthly and annual commuters and such a system will at least bring some relief to commuters.
The company initially introduced pay parking in Gormanstown last year. It involved — I believe nobody disagreed with this — a new, secure car park with CCTV systems and there was greater security. The company introduced a charge of €2 per day and, in fairness to the company, €5 per week. People paid that because they believed it was fair. The company has seen fit to raise that charge from €5 to €8 per week and God knows what else it will be. I accept the company has made many improvements to the rail system and I know it is aware of and alert to commuter needs. However, the company has broken faith with many commuters who see this as money grabbing. If the company consulted and the charge was more reasonable with discounts for weekly, monthly or annual commuters, it would be much more sensible and much more acceptable. There are four weeks in a month and eight fours are 32, so the monthly discount is €2. Is that right? That is a paltry discount. I have looked at what happens in other jurisdictions, in the United States and so on, and there are much more significant reductions, in particular quarterly reductions for commuters.
Another point is where car parking spaces are allocated. The company must provide car parking space for employees, and I have no difficulty with that. However, sometimes the staff car parks are in the prime position and nearest to the entrance to the railway station. Perhaps that could be looked at because if people are working all day they may not need to be as near as some commuters have to be, particularly those who arrive late.
This has been introduced without proper consultation, but with service providers such as Bus Éireann. I agree that if people have used their cars to get to the railway station and have a choice they will walk. That is good and there is nothing wrong with that. However, in most country areas where people have no choice there is no public transport alternative. Have CIE and Iarnród Éireann sought any response from Bus Éireann or other private providers regarding a bus commuter service to the railway stations? This would make much more sense. Walking or cycling to work if one can is the fundamental objective. The commuters I am talking about have no choice and they feel they are totally ripped off by the company. What has been done is entirely wrong.
I thank the delegation for their time here. In their submission they refer to different charges, including some in County Kildare and also how cheap their company is when one compares car parking in Drogheda. However, on rail fares, a point I have made before is that if one considers what the commuter pays in Drogheda, Laytown or Dundalk, compared to what they pay on the other side of Balbriggan — the distance between Drogheda and Balbriggan is about one third of the distance between Drogheda and Dublin — the fares are double. A day return in Drogheda is €16.40 versus €7.30 from Balbriggan. Monthly fares are €175 versus €103. The company is ripping off commuters in the fares already there and the delegation has not addressed that issue. The last time the company sent a delegation here, they undertook to look at this issue, but the fact is that once they pass Balbriggan, commuters pay a hell of a lot more, in some cases almost double what others are paying. There is no equity or fairness in that.