Id say her senator i.d card was like a red flag to a bull!!

Knowing IR, the ticket office was closed…. and anyhow since when could you not purchase a ticket on board?

Hmmm, the report seems to have omitted the conversation between the ticket inspector and Healy-Eames….

For once I actually believe a politician!

No mention of the accusation on boards.ie that she used the ‘doyouknowhoIam’ defense?

That photo is great. I love the invisible mobile phone she has. :)

Michelle i forgot what the article was about when i saw your picture. I am a fan now:-)

Thought politicians were only on the gravy train…

I would have thought it would be no problem purchasing a ticket on a train either.

What does it matter she’ll just claim it on her expenses so the taxpayers will pay her fine.

Irish Rail Ticket Rules 5, 6, 7, couldn`t be clearer, Senator Healy Eames has NO defence. “No Ticket, No Travel, No Excuses” Irish Rail. She is paid handsomely in travel expenses by the state. This is the same lady who refused to pay her Plumber in full & that case is before the courts presently. Arrogance.

Irish Rail by-laws state you must have a valid ticket before boarding. Only exception to this is when a station is closed or something and it’s not possible to buy one in advance. She messed up, she’s fined, rest of article is pure hearsay ripped from boards.ie.

A friend of mine got fined when she went to a conductor (at her destination) and asked where she could pay at that end. Irish rail and bus eireann aswell are jokes.

Never heard of her before today. Not a good way for one of my public servants to be introduced to me.

This happens every day to anyone.
Why should it be different just because the person is a politician?

Just a coincidence that she didn’t have time the previous 2 occasions? On a time keeping point she must be late a few times a day.

Earth shattering news. How could anyone do such a thing? Great work, keep exposing these people

Glad to see her been bound by same rules as the rest of us why did she flash the senator id badge?

Look.
There are not inspectors on every train and between every combination of stations. As a ‘seasoned’ traveller travelling frequently she should know the rules. She is a solicitor for goodness sake. Her comment that she is going to appeal indicates even more arrogance. I can read her like a book. The statement that she will appeal is an indication of innocence while this is in the news. Follow this story though and I bet she won’t appeal.
She broke the rules, was caught and she will pay the fine.

The rules are simple if your at a station with either a open ticket office or a working vending machine you must purchase a Ticket, if you can’t because either the office is closed or vending machine not working then you can either pay at your destination or pay a Inspector onboard. Using the excuse of running late is no justification to not buying a ticket, if its so important to get to your destination on time then get to the station on time. The fact she has ticket stubs from previous times does prove she has purchased tickets onboard in the past, however it also proves she has no problem flaunting the rules to her own advantage..don’t bother turning up on time and buying a ticket like the normal people.

Also who’s to say how many times has she pulled this stunt and not payed onboard and just walked out the barrier in Heuston?

Another question that should be asked is why she does not have a monthly or yearly ticket for this considering the Tax payer is paying for it? seems dodgy to me, why yes ofc I spent 30k on travel last year boss. sucker…

Funny but you really should be able to buy tickets from a conductor on board. It’s common practise around Europe.

Will the fine be deductible as a vouched or untouched expense ?

Over in England they let you purchase tickets on the train no problem! Its not even questioned! Why not here? o_O

Sorry. She should pay for her ticket.
What would she have done had no inspector come along?
Find the time to pay for the ticket after she got away with it?
Sorry, this lady has history for not paying for things.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0308/healyeamesf.html

G’way and shite – ye Dubs are all well used to the availability of rail travel. She got on thinking she could pay cos she did before. Fair enough to be suspicious of that but rail transport is not an every day thing for people in any other part of Ireland.
As a Senator from Galway she’s entitled to over €26K in travel and accommodation allowances so the idea of trying to avoid a price of €21.99 is a bit far fetched.

We love to criticise though – if there’s one thing thejournal.ie teaches us is that the Irish are the whingiest bunch of whingy whiners there are. And that’s all we’ll ever do.

my luas card didn’t scan properly at the station (it made an odd beep) I was rushing onto the luas and thought it was ok I was fined on the spot and I was told after appeal my fine was upheld as it was my responsibility to ensure the card scanned, there is no room for innocent mistakes in these matters.

collector was on the right track there

i think again lynch mob here, i thought you could buy on a train, not so long ago i did, so its an innocent enough mistake.

Right on, Derek. There’s plenty of signs at stations telling everyone the rules “no ticket, no ride” and outlining the penalties. And “everyone” includes TDs and suchlike.

Yes she was fined but when she flashed her I’d she thought that was the end of the matter ,

Either you know the ticket procedures from being a regular train traveller, or you’re new and going straight to the ticket booth upon arrival before boarding the train.

More than likely she didn’t pay, and as the article stated, she makes a show of her Senator ID. She probably got away with it previously and got the special treatment by flashing her Senate ID to purchase a ticket on the train. But this Inspector was having none of it, and wouldn’t even if it had been the Queen of England.

€100 fine will be levied to the taxpayer :)

Did’nt rabbit make a comment on people with double barrel names ?

she could have bought on the net,at the ticket desk ( if open) at the ticket machine (if not broken or not even working) even buy a weekly/monthly ticket. the inspector has a job to do ( to live and pay his bills etc even to pay her wages dare i say) she an educated woman that should have got a ticket. full stop. no point blaming anyone but herself.

You’d think somebody familiar with train travel would know better about ticket purchasing. And if she was new to it or a rare rider, she’d be search

Delighted for her that will teach her a lesson for not buying a ticket before boarding the train.

I just travelled through France, Belgium, holland and Germany by rail, seeing some of the best rail networks around. Only once did I see a conductor on board that was checking tickets and that was when they threw someone off a train for not having a ticket! There were notices everywhere that you must have a validated ticket to travel. I wonder how recently many of you who claim you can buy a ticket on the trains there actually travelled as there has been a massive move towards automation on the continent in recent years.

With that being said, I do think this was an honest mistake on her part because I do know that some services are still backwards and allow the practice of buying from a conductor. I do have a problem with her reported “do you know who I am?” attitude though as claimed on boards.ie though!

Could she not use the wifi on the train or her phone to buy a ticket when she sat down on the train?

In fairness you should be able to buy a ticket off the inspector if you got delayed etc…€100 seems a lot for something like this… Her attitude left a lot to be desired but still…

One easy solution is to have the ticket machines on the train, that is what is done in Germany by some rail companies

I heard she used the “Don’t you know who I am, I’m a senator” line.

Another classic from Tomy Iota.

http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Screen-Shot-2012-07-13-at-15.10.43.jpgnnWell – hmm – don’t know who I believe

Them Senators are all posh people who think they are above the law. I bet if the Journal prints her exspenses they will be big. All the clowns in the pub where I work say we should get rid of them freeloaders in that gold mine of the senate. I say the sooner the better.

Will the €100 ticket evading fine imposed on Her Excellency Senator by Irish Rail be paid by taxpayers along with Higgins Tour of Eire travel expenses?

Will she have a criminal record now?

Does anyone have a problem with people’s names being put on seats but the lights (with the names on ) only being turned on at the last min.happen to b on the train from Dublin to limerick last tue evening when this strong American “lady”came on with her two kids and bounced this elderly man out of “her ” seat. He tried to explain to her that there were no names on the seats but moved for her. .(I would have too)anyway sure enough after about 10 min the lights with names came on over seats just before train took off. There would have been chaos if everyone decided to get their named seat .

What a load of nonsense. Hardly worthy of all the coverage it’s getting. Why can’t you buy a ticket on the train? Knowing Irish rail its probably because the man who checks the tickets is not the man who sells the tickets and he’s not allowed to sell tickets cos that’s someone else’s job and he is off today!!

What a wonderful piece of publicity for a politician. Until now, I’d never heard of this Senator – now she’s interesting & next time she puts a message out there I’ll attend to it in a completely different way.

The more conversation there is around this incident the better it will be for her I suspect.

I have relevant experience: was a bus conductor & “revenue protection official” for London Transport long time ago. Also selected, trained & managed people whose job it was to “protect revenue” & also people whose job it was to develop policies to apply to this type of situation.

It’s great to be reminded of the conversations we had in London (ages ago).

These days I think differently: I’ve returned from 30 years in UK.

What sort of society do we want to make? What sort of behaviour do we want to encourage, reward, discourage & penalise?

I’ve arrived late for a train & wanted to pay on board. I’d like to always have the option of paying on board. We all would?

I’ve wanted to catch fare-dodgers. Wanted to play fair with the vast majority of law-abiding citizens who pay for their travel. We all feel the same (certainly here) ?

I’ve wanted clear rules, easy to apply rules, rules customers & staff consistently follow & find easy to follow. We all agree? (I’m not so sure about this one in Ireland.)

This sort of incident gives us all an opportunity to practise skills – like character assassination, storytelling, spilling bile, defending underdogs and so on…

Great place this – must visit more often :). Thank you all.

Just for your info. I worked in Germany till 2006 and if you are caught on the tram without a ticket you get a fine,hate to say it but it happened to me. On the train the same applies. Now unless they have changed the system i believe there are no machines to purchase tickets on trams or trains but on the trams there is machines where you punch your ticket..

This is a common occurrence, both the fact of boarding a train and paying onboard and the constant anti-whatever the hell is unpopular posts on The Journal. Please grow up! If you’re not able to do this please stick to Facebook.

I would have expect a teenager to use the excuse (thought i could buy my ticket on the train) It just shows how low government officials will go to put money in there own pocket. If she had gotten away with it she probably would have anyway claimed it as an expense. They never change!!!

wonder does she flash her senator id when she pitches up at the airport without a ticket…or have we just witnessed another example of politicians adopting the do you know who i am attitude.Fair play to the inspector for doing their job…….As for producing tickets from preavious trips i am sure if i check my jacket i will find a couple of old used bus tickets.I wonder if i fail to purchase a ticket on the bus would the inspector let me off without a fine if i produce them…Pay the fine

Rules for us and rules for them ,, it’s never going to change in this country

some months ago I was returning from Dublin to Ennis but had a return ticket to Limerick only. I got out of train in Limerick to but ticket to Ennis but nobody at ticket sales and the machines didn’t work. meanwhile the train left foe Ennis and I was left stranded as it was the last train. Bloody ridiculous train service if you ask me. Thanks to helpful bus eireann staff I managed to catch last bus to Ennis which had just left. So the TD is telling the truth in this case – give her a break

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

So she gets a fine we the tax payer will pick up the cost as she will off set it against expenses

Hang on folks. Buying a ticket, before getting on the train is for ordinary people. These special politition types must be entitled to travel without a ticket. They cant be expected to buy a ticket at the booking office like the rest of us. I suppose the fine will be claimed as expenses.,

http://cf.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Screen-Shot-2012-07-13-at-15.10.43.jpgnnWell – I know who I believe ! nnn(ignore previous comment – pasted incorrectly !)

I wonder was she claiming milage for the trip or was she claiming the price of the train ticket ?.