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Seanad Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 30 May 1923

Vol. 1 No. 23

STATUTORY UNDERTAKINGS (CONTINUANCE OF CHARGES) BILL.

AN CATHAOIRLEACH

The first business on the Order Paper is the Statutory Undertakings (Continuance of Charges) Bill. This is a formal but a very urgent Bill, and has to be put through all its stages to-day, because unless it came into operation to-morrow, financial difficulties would arise. Perhaps some member, therefore, will move that the Bill be put through all its stages to-day.

As I understand this measure, it is necessary that it should be passed to enable various arrangements which have been made heretofore to continue, as the Government and the country generally are not in a position to go into this question seriously and to revise all the various regulations which have been made. The only way out of the difficulty, in view of the fact that a number of these fares and so forth will terminate by a certain date, is to carry on for another year, and that is, I understand, what the Bill proposes to do. I beg to move, therefore, that the Standing Orders be suspended to enable the Bill to pass through all its stages.

I beg to second the motion.

Question put and agreed to.
Question proposed: "That the Bill be read a second time."

I hope there is no impression—I believe there is an impression abroad—that the passing of this Bill means that the full charges now in operation on railways, tramways, etc., shall continue as a matter of course until the end of the year. I take it this Bill merely authorises the continuance of the charges pending or failing other arrangements. I was glad to note that the Minister in charge of the Bill in the Dáil said that arrangements were being made to have an inquiry into the tramway charges. I think that announcement will be welcomed by anybody having any practical experience of the manner in which the charges of at least one tramway company are imposed. Not only has there been a very serious increase in the charges, but the stages have been shortened and altered in a very drastic, and, indeed, aggravating manner. The manner in which the new regulations in the Dublin Tramway Company are being interpreted would almost go to show that those who are responsible for them were rather imbued with the desire of giving the minimum of comfort and service for the maximum of expense and inconveni ence. Unless you keep your toes very closely to the line chalked out for you by the company, on entering a tram you invariably find that you are charged twopence for less than the equivalent of a three-halfpenny fare, or what should really be a penny fare.

Then there is the manner in which the requirements of the service are met. There seems to be no real attempt to meet the dinner hour and evening rush for trams. In fact, it is a case of the survival of the fittest to try to get even standing room on a car at these hours when they are most required. The fact that there is no queue system in force here as in other cities, especially across the Channel, makes it really a question of physical force in storming a tram at the hours when the great bulk of the citizens require them most. I think that the least we might expect in return for the very exorbitant charges which are being made at the present time is that we should have reasonable breathing space on these trams and that the company should make a better effort to meet public requirements. Then there is the case of the charges for children. A child can go the three-halfpenny stage for a penny, but all other fares above that amount must be paid in full. On the London busses and trams children are charged only half fares with a minimum of a penny, and I fail to see why similar regulations should not be in operation here, as the present arrangements hit the children of the poor very severely. In the case of a bank holiday or a Sunday, when the working man wants to bring his children out to the seaside, it is a great hardship that he has to pay the same fare for the children for the five-penny or sixpenny stage, as the case may be, as he pays for himself. It often means that the children are left at home as a consequence. The railways universally charge half fares for children under the age of twelve years, and there is no logical reason, at all events, why a similar arrangement should not be made in regard to the tramway company. There have been reductions in wages, and very heavy reductions in the cost of materials, particularly in the case of steel rails, coal, and other items that weigh heavily on the tramway company. I do hope, and I sure it is the hope of everybody, that there will be some material reduction in tramway fares before the time for the expiration of this Bill.

This Bill is not one which purposes to continue charges. Its purpose is rather to take powers to continue charges or to reduce charges as the case may be. That is the ambit of the Bill. The Ministry wishes to have the power to make increased charges when it is found that increased charges are necessary because of increased expenditure in the working of the various undertakings. In reference to what Senator O'Farrell has said in regard to railways I may say that railways do not come within the scope of the Bill. When the Bill was passing through the Dáil we did undertake to have an inquiry made into the charges of the Dublin United Tramways Company, and as soon as the Bill becomes law we hope to set up that inquiry and to have an immediate investigation.

Question put and agreed to.
Bill put through its further Stages without amendment, and passed.
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