Mr. Frank Allen:

I met the Minister before the budget. He acknowledged and recognised the issue of crowding at stations. He is very concerned about this. He asked me if there were circumstances where people could be left behind at a railway station, and I told him that during the morning peak it is very tight. He understands the issue and is supportive. As the national budget cascades through the various areas of expenditure, it is expected that there will be funding to allow us proceed with refurbishing rolling stock, where the process of procurement and seeking a contractor has begun. It is expected that the company will be able to go to the market and buy new rolling stock and that funding will be made available to deal with the signalling project.

Until such a time as the process works its way through to allow the spending Department to write to the agency to tell it how much it has for 2018, all our budgets, which the board is currently examining for 2018, are contingent on getting funding from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. As I said earlier, we know for sure that there is an understanding of the issues. That is absolutely clear. We are confident that in the overall budget allocation for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, increased funding will be made available to Iarnród Éireann for 2018. In December, that amount will be put in a letter from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport to Iarnród Éireann. I am expressing a note of caution for obvious reasons prior to that.