Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I apologise for being late. I had a meeting at home. I also travelled by car today which is very rare. It is the first time in months. Usually when I am on the train I am one of the first into the room. I thank Mr. Meade and Mr. Kenny not just for being here today but for their continuous engagement. They are fantastic in how they lead out the organisation. I am a regular train user and I can see a lot of improvements personally as I use the services, but also politically. There is a lot in the pipeline. I thank our guests for that.

On the new timetable, there have not been seismic changes in my neck of the woods but I do know that across the network there have been improvements. On ticketing, it is quite standard when booking online that there is a budget price ticket, a semi-flexible ticket and a fully flexible ticket. There seem to be only 12 or 15 budget price tickets per service, something like that. Would it be possible to increase that? There is a bit of Oasis-style dynamic pricing going on. Once they sell out, you move on to the next price category and then the next. The sweet landing spot should be somewhere in the middle, where most people get a value fare. Since I travel regularly I know that if you book in advance, you can get a nice cheap fare and a nice seat, you can have comfort and efficiency, but people who book last minute would find the train service quite expensive. Is there any way that Irish Rail can find the sweet spot in the middle?