Éamon Ó Cuív criticises exclusion of islanders from 20% fare cut

Gormagatisian Coorle, Camara, Gormagatisian Coorle, Camara, Gormagatisian Maer, Casteintish Agus Uffas Chom, Nae Cwilna Hylani Clúdi Fynn Schaim Fogriub, Gmae Lai Du, Fefangetis Natoile, Taastel, Fudnitire, Achu Manga Hylani. What I need is I think I'm not sure about it. I think you can see the figures that I've done so much. Because of myself, the figures have been done over the years and not just a few years ago. If I'm enjoying myself, I've been to the great future of my life. But I'm not the only one in the world. But I'm not going to be able to do this. There are thousands of thousands of thousands of thousands of people in the world. I have seen a few years ago in the Figueroa time that I had to go through a thousand and a hundred thousand to the government. Minister, you can imagine my surprise when I put down a parliamentary question to your colleague as to whether the islanders, who are totally dependent on public transport for transport in and out of the islands, whether it is air transport in the case of the Arden Islands or boat transport in the case of the Arden Islands and all of the other islands, when I found out that they were not actually going to be covered on the 20% reduction in public service fares that the rest of the country are due to enjoy come the 1st of April. I have to say that the first thought that went through my mind that this was some April Fool's joke, that the most isolated, the one community that cannot get off their islands without public transport, were the ones left out of the scheme. I raised the question with the Minister on 17 February. I got an answer to say that no, they are not included and that they were consulting with government departments, but we are now into March. The clock is ticking. I have no doubt that the Department of Public Expenditure will be able to raise £50 to £100,000. I doubt if that is even margin of error stuff in the £54 million that this scheme is going to cost. It therefore seems to me that the Department of Community Development should put a scheme to the Minister and I have no doubt that my colleague will come up trumps. So I would hope this afternoon that you would allay my concerns, that you would ensure equality in this island, real equality, that a simple oversight that should not have arisen when this went to Cabinet would be corrected and that you would confirm to me that the islanders would enjoy the same discount or benefit as the rest of Ireland is going to enjoy on the 1st of April. Goan Maggot. Thank you Deputy Minister Madigan. Thank you Cian Córle. I am taking this topic on behalf of Minister Humphreys. The sustainability of the communities on our offshore islands is a core objective of the Government, which is set out in its rural development policy. The policy acknowledges the importance for island communities of access to reliable, safe and affordable connectivity services to and from the mainland. Contracts for these services are procured by the Department of Rural and Community Development on the open market through the procurement process. This ensures that all providers are treated equally and that the selection process is fair and transparent for all. The fare reduction scheme that you mentioned, Deputy, which was recently announced by the Department of Transport, will see an average of 20 per cent reduction on transport services that are managed by the National Transport Authority on its behalf. This scheme covers all bus and all train services on all of the NTA networks. But it is important to note that all other subsidised transport services managed by the Department of Transport, such as the PSO air service to Donegal and Kerry are not covered by the scheme. I understand that you have already received a similar communication yourself. Similarly, the subsidised transport services managed by my Department to the offshore islands do not qualify for the scheme. Unlike the services managed by the NTA, offshore islands have a mix of subsidised and non-subsidised transport services. The introduction of a fare reduction scheme for subsidised services would put private operators at a disadvantage. They will be entitled to seek legal redress if a subsidised service were to get a competitive advantage such as subsidised fares on a designated route. Furthermore, many subsidised operators provide extra sailings beyond what is subsidised and those extra sailings would not be entitled to the reduction. A fare reduction scheme, which applied to subsidised sailings only, would create fair inconsistencies for both service operators and users. All of the contracted air, ferry and cargo services managed by the Department are procured in an open and fair procedure. Providing a fare reduction scheme for chosen suppliers would undermine those procedures and would be inherently unfair. As any fare reduction scheme for the subsidised service to the islands would have to be implemented in a manner that would be fair to all providers, the Department has no plans to proceed with a fare reduction scheme at this time. However, Deputy, I do note what you have said and I will put your comments to Minister Humphreys and I know what you say around equality for Islanders as well and I will bring forward that sentiment to Minister Humphreys. Minister Humphreys This is the most Orwellian and misinformed reply I have ever received in this House. Whoever wrote the reply forgot that I actually put the schemes that are in place. In place. In place. Now Minister, I hope you listen carefully how this actually works. There are tenders sought for services to the islands and in those tenders only the Islander fare is dictated by the Department. All fares for tourists or non-Islanders visiting the island they pay the commercial rate. And all I am looking for is that the 20% would apply to the Island fare which is a fixed fare as part of the contract. And yes, it would be foolish for somebody to take a non-subsidised service if they were an Islander to the Islands where they would probably pay a lot more money than the subsidised fare to the Island. So most of the answer here is totally misinformed of how the system works. Now how the Department is more misinformed of how the system works than I am, I find hard to understand. So what we are asking here today is quite simple. Don't touch the tourist fares, don't touch somebody like myself going to the Island who will pay the commercial rate which is much higher than the Island rate. Reduce the specific Island rate which is only in the PSO Island contracts. Now I presume if I take a private bus or hire a bus on the mainland and it is not part of the NTA bus routes that they won't say it is unfair competition that the NTA bus route is 20% cheaper. There are plenty of buses in this country that are not subsidised or part of a PSO. And therefore, Minister, I think that the Chinese wall put up here today is totally false. And I hope, in what I have said to you, I have demolished the logic of the argument and that somebody will come back to me with a much more rational argument as to why, what is very, very simple, can it just be done and equality prevailed. Thank you, Deputy Minister. Thank you, Deputy. And I can hear your frustration in your comments. Nonetheless, I want to thank you for raising the match this evening. And I will bring your comments back to Minister Humphreys. I will reiterate that, unlike the NTA, the Department does not subsidise all services on all routes and therefore, any fair reduction scheme could, if I can just finish, Deputy, if I could just finish, Deputy, I did not interrupt you. So, Expressway is not subsidised by the Department. If I can just finish, it could not be applied evenly and could put private operators at a disadvantage. You would appreciate, Deputy, that I am taking this topical issue on behalf of Minister Humphreys. I am not in the Department myself. This is the information that I have, but I have and I hope it will reassure you that I have said and I will give you a commitment that I will speak to Minister Heather Humphreys about this. I know and I hear what you are saying around equality for Islanders. I note your comments about reduction to the specific PSO contract as well and I will say that to her. However, my understanding is that what you are suggesting would create fair inconsistencies for the subsidised operators as not all sailings are subsidised. So, as you can appreciate, that is the information that I have here to hand. I do understand that there is obviously a 20% reduction for NTA fares and I do get your argument around inequalities there. So, again, I will say it to Minister Humphreys and I am sure she will revert to you in due course. Thank you Minister, I appreciate the fact that the Minister is being dropped in the deep end on these matters. I thought there was an arrangement that the Minister was meant to come in. The Minister can sometimes delegate somebody else to do the work. I assume the Minister is unavoidably absent, so we are grateful to Minister Manningham for being here.