Mark Gleeson, of Rail Users Ireland and Social Democrats Spokesperson on Transport Jennifer Whitmore joined Ciara Kelly on the show to discuss a potential designated St Patrick’s Day transport service.
Thousands of people are expected to visit Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day this year. Without a designated St Patrick's Day transport service and through reliance on reduced hours they will either attend parades around the country or to visit family on the national holiday.
Despite this, most public transport services are running weekend or bank holiday timetables.
Mark Gleeson, of Rail Users Ireland and Social Democrats Spokesperson on Transport Jennifer Whitmore are calling for increased transport services for the day.
Speaking on The Hard Shoulder on Monday, Mr Gleeson said passengers would be expecting better service going forward on St Patrick’s Day.
“In Dublin, most commuter services don't start up until after 9am, which is not very helpful.
“On St Patrick’s Day, the rail system is the only one that isn’t disrupted by parades. However, no transportation forms are offering a full service.
“We'd like to see at the minimum a full Saturday service operating on St Patrick's Day across the entire country.”
The luas services are shut down for long periods and across Ireland, bus services are disrupted because parades are going on. The DART is operating like a Sunday service and Dublin and intercity trains are offering a Saturday service.
Social Democrats Spokesperson on Transport Jennifer Whitmore said a reduction of services was not desirable considering up to half of million people were expected in the capital for St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
She told The Hard Shoulder Host Ciara Kelly that if possible, capacity for transport should be expanded for such celebrations.
“We need people to be able to get into the parade, but to be able to do it in a way that's enjoyable. We don't want a sort of chaotic situation where people aren't able to get back out of the city to get home. It's unfortunate that this happens year in, year out.
“On top of reduced activity we also have limited parking space in town.”
Designed St Patrick's Day transport: What about service workers?
The debate moved on to whether the reduced hours were due to accommodate service workers with a time off during a national holiday.
“I don't know if that's the rationale”, Ms Whitmore said.
“I actually suspect it's probably more of a cutting measure.
“I don't know why these services are reduced. I would imagine that bus drivers would appreciate being able to celebrate our national day as well and train drivers and the rest. I think the reality is the service is needed and if the service is needed that there should be provision there.”
“We don't see public transport as a right in the social contract”, Mark Gleeson, of Rail Users Ireland said.
“We need to provide it, it's a public transport service.
“We're paying for it through taxation. It needs to meet the needs of the community as a whole. When you do provide great public transport it empowers people to engage in new opportunities to go to access employment or access education or access healthcare.
“The NTA hasn’t yet realised that public transport isn’t just about getting people to work from 9 to 5 Monday to Friday.”
Main Image: The St Patricks Day parade. Picture by: Sam Boal.
