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‘I hate giveaway budgets in an election year’ - what Dublin-Kildare commuters want for their vote

On the busy commuter belt in Kildare, people anticipating a general election believe the pre-ballot budget should have been more targeted at big issues such as housing

Commuters waiting board a Luas tram following secondary picketing linked to the Bus Éireann strike at Heuston Station, Dublin. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Commuters waiting board a Luas tram following secondary picketing linked to the Bus Éireann strike at Heuston Station, Dublin. Photograph: Gareth Chaney/Collins
Barry J Whyte in Kildare
Thu Oct 17 2024 - 06:05

On a cold and dark morning in Kildare train station, Reece Doyle, a student of electronic engineering in Tallaght, was counting the cost of his daily commute to college.

“I’m paying €100 a month for a train ticket, and a leap card on top of that to get me out to college,” he said.

He’s not alone in that. Denise Phelan has been in touch with her local representatives a number of times about the cost of tickets, especially for her son who is studying in DCU.

“I’ve had to drive him to Naas to get the ticket within the short hop zone,” she said, which only extends as far as Sallins and Naas train station.

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The difference between the price of train tickets for commuters in towns such as Kildare and Newbridge, compared with the far lower prices in nearby towns such as Naas, has caused much frustration in Kildare.

It is expected to be a major issue for voters in Kildare South in the general election that is expected in the coming months or even weeks, if the grapevine is to be believed.

But those weren’t the only issues that are on the minds of Kildare’s commuters on Monday.

Several said they want this Government and the next to take bolder decisions on issues such as housing, homelessness and health, as well as a more robust position on the bombardment of Gaza.

Bruna Araujo travels to the station by car with her husband, who works in the town, in order to take advantage of the slightly more reliable service compared with Athy, where she lives.

Araujo said the pressure on commuter services was linked to the intractable housing crisis.

“We’re being pushed farther from Dublin because we can’t buy or rent anything there because it’s too expensive, but still have to commute at least three times a week to go to work,” she told The Irish Times during a visit to the busy commuter-belt station.

“If I want to get in time in Dublin I have to get up very early. They said they were trying to improve the timetable, but to be honest I haven’t seen any improvement.”

For Tom Behan, who lives near the station, recent changes in the train timetable have been a source of frustration, noting that “the train times have changed over the last month, and not for the better”.

But, according to Behan, there are bigger issues for the town, such as the management of the Curragh Plains - the 5,000 acres of grassland that is home to horsebreeding and training regarded as a local community amenity - the building of schools in the area, and a need for greater investment in housing.

Like several others interviewed at the station, he said he would have preferred if the national finances had been focused more directly on addressing issues such as housing.

“My son is trying to buy a house at the moment and he’s being forced further down the country. He’s now looking in Portlaoise and he still can’t afford the prices there,” he said.

“I hate to see giveaway budgets in the year of an election because it’s false. If there’s a genuine reason for giving the money then I think it should be done.”

Orla, who works in a Dublin university but did not want to give her surname, said the budget “felt like it was a sucking-up-to-me budget, trying to give me money so that I’d vote for them”.

““I’d prefer it had been put into tangible things that would last over time,” she said.

Liam Broughall, a social worker who operates mainly in Dublin, said the budget would not make much of a difference to him, or to the lives of many family’s he works with.

“They said we’d all be the guts of a grand better off after the budget, but it won’t make much of a difference to my day-to-day life,” he said, with the cost of living rising so significantly.

A different approach to the national finances was required to balance out disparities in the living standards across the country, he said.

“Everyone’s just barely keeping their head above the water, I don’t think there’s too many people saving money - there are families out there just living week to week, day to day,” he said.

“There’s a real crisis out there that this Government doesn’t seem to see.”

Aoife Hand from Kildare at Kildare Town train station.
Aoife Hand from Kildare at Kildare Town train station.

David Cullagh, a civil servant, conceded that train tickets were expensive, but said the housing crisis and homelessness were far bigger issues, as well as the lack of schools in the town, which was his major concern given that he has two children under four years of age.

He also noted the importance of Ireland’s role in relation to bigger, global issues, such as climate change and geopolitics.

“Ireland is a small player in a very big game, so do we really have an influence? Possibly not. But if our voices are loud enough, hopefully others will come along,” he said.

Several other commuters had similar views, including Aoife Hand, who said that as well as housing and education issues, she wanted candidates to take more effective action on the bombardment of Gaza.

She wants “more action on Israel, not just mealy-mouthed words, but proper action from Ireland”.