Mr. Frank Allen:

I thank the Deputy. We and Translink have done all of the due diligence that is necessary in terms of requesting EU funding. We do not have any formal approval, far from it, but there are positive signals that this does appear to fit within the priorities of the various programmes. The work has been done on our side and we work very closely with colleagues in Belfast to make sure any additional information that is required is available, and that is in hand.

In terms of when it would be available, it all turns on the availability of rolling stock. That is not just the EU funded scheme, it is also what I just mentioned, in that we are at the moment reaching towards the end of a procurement process to purchase a new fleet of trains. That additional fleet of trains would allow us to have additional services. I agree we need to have a service that allows people whose journey originates, for example, in Belfast to arrive in Connolly Station for meetings at 9 a.m. That should be a priority and it is a priority for us, and we need more trains to do that. We have a substantially completed procurement exercise and that is now going through the approval process to get the funding to do that.

In terms of the decarbonisation associated with that, part of the DART process I mentioned involves extending the electrification of the line further north than it is at the moment. The trains we have proposed to buy, what I have described as battery electric multiple units, would allow us to operate using the battery from Malahide northwards, for example, to Drogheda, even before the overhead lines are put up. The design work has been done, the procurement work is substantially completed and we are looking for the funding to be able to support that.

On the timing, we will not have new trains delivered by 2024 to allow that to happen. I acknowledge that people want this to happen as soon as possible but, given the time needed to order a train and have it manufactured, delivered, commissioned and put into service, I do not see that as being achievable by 2024. The only way it would be achievable, in my view, would be to take trains off other services and put them on that service, and there is a bit of reorganisation that goes on all the time. However, we are committed to increasing the capacity and, in particular, to having earlier services come into Dublin from Belfast.

In terms of higher speed and shortening the journey time between Belfast and Dublin, that would require changes in infrastructure, and many of those changes would be north of the Border. In fact, much of the removal of level crossings, bridges and so forth has already taken place in County Louth and County Dublin. However, to really eat into and shorten that journey time further will require further investment in fixed infrastructure by Translink in Northern Ireland.