Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I apologise profusely for missing the entirety of the meeting thus far but that was unavoidable. I apologise also if some of my questions have been asked and answered. If they have, that is fine. I can take the answers from the record afterwards.

I want to talk about the Cork-Dublin line. There was an announcement of approximately €91 million, as I understand it, for the upgrading of that line to ensure that the speed at which commuters could travel between Cork and Dublin and vice versais speeded up. I want to get a deeper understanding of where that spend is going and how it is proposed to spend the moneys. I understand that signalling upgrades are a component part of that, and possibly new intercity railcars, ICRs. I could be wrong but Ms Graham will clarify that for me. The reason I ask is because, while I am a weekly traveller on the Cork to Dublin line and I am a regular DART user, I wonder whether the Mark 4 engines are fit for purpose in a modern railway infrastructure and whether there is a proposal to replace those with more energy-efficient carriages and train sets. Where is the NTA in terms of that conversation with Irish Rail? That is my first question.