Mr. Frank Allen:

The Deputy asked whether there are any proposals on privatisation, public private partnerships or any such thing. I do not see opportunities for it in Ireland. No discussions have taken place. That is not part of the agenda for anybody involved in the railway in Ireland at the moment.

Crowded trains are certainly a concern for us. I agree that we need more capacity on the routes, including the provincial routes and intercity routes. The Deputy raised the issue of having improved service on the Belfast-Dublin line, to get a service into Dublin before 9 o'clock. I wish we had that. I think it would make a huge difference to the quality of service that we provide. That will require more rolling stock and if we get the money and the rolling stock, that could be discussed with Northern Ireland Railways. Money has been spent to ensure that the Enterprise route, where substantial investment took place in the past two years to refresh the rolling stock which looks very well now, is a good quality service. To make improvements such as the Deputy suggests, including additional services and such, would require more rolling stock. We are currently at the limit of services that can be provided with the existing fleet of rolling stock.

The signalling investment that is now taking place is a major project in the greater Dublin area. That will help to regulate services better on those lines and to optimise them to have fewer circumstances that might cause a delay for a train coming in from Dundalk, such as having a DART service in its way. That signalling investment is well under way and is showing benefits. It makes the service more reliable. We are aware of the concerns that the Deputy has expressed and we want to invest to make sure that trip is as comfortable as possible for people because that is the only way to get people out of their cars and on to public transport.

The Deputy mentioned disability access. The quality of a public transport system can only be measured by how well it provides for mobility-impaired people. A public transport system that does not serve mobility-impaired people well should not call itself a public transport system at all. The period of notice required for the system that is currently in place, where people who need that ramp call ahead, has been shortened. That system will be maintained, so there will continue to be a system in place. We might have more people and better services on the train, even if there is less staffing in stations, but the purpose of any redeployment of staff is to ensure that we provide a superior quality service to all our passengers but, in particular, mobility-impaired passengers. The Deputy can be assured that any changes made will take full account of the needs of mobility-impaired passengers to ensure that provision is made to get them on and off the train safely.