Irish Rail User Groups

[Derek Wheeler]

From the organisation that appears to be reluctant to recognise P11 as a representation body, comes this initiative. The committee has been following its progress.

Ive just received this particular material by email. I'd like to draw peoples attention to the "special incentives" being offered by Irish Rail to "participants".

As part of our efforts to improve our service to our customers, Iarnród Éireann is setting up a number of customer user groups throughout the network.

These groups will enable us to get regular feedback from customers about their experiences while using the train service.

If you are a regular user of the train service we are interested in hearing from you.

If you are chosen to be a member of a user group you will be required to do the following:

Commuters – Complete a questionnaire about your experience for one journey per week and attend 3 meetings per year. For each meeting that you attend you will be given a 7 Day Rail rolling short hop ticket for the Greater Dublin area. After 18 months, all those who are still actively participating in their user group will be given a weekend Railbreak voucher for 2 adults.

Intercity Customers – Complete a questionnaire about your experience for two journeys per month and attend 3 meetings per year. For each meeting that you attend you will be given a €20 gift voucher which can be redeemed against future train tickets.

After 18 months, all those who are still actively participating in their user group will be given a weekend Railbreak voucher for 2 adults.

If you feel that you are available to make the commitment to completing the questionnaires and attending the 3 meetings then please complete the attached application form

The questions I'd like to pose are, how "independent" can a participant be, when accepting gifts in return for participating. While I understand that incentives are a helpful way to encourage participation, how appropriate are the gifts in the context of user groups that will undoubtedly have complaints.

There are certain words I could use to describe this, but I'll check with the legal team first.