Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

They are talking about vending machines and we know there will be no carrots in those vending machines. I would say the Deputy will be back to muffins or crisps.

We have seen a remarkable return to public transport in this country, ahead of other countries. Rail has been slower, mainly because it is used a lot for long distance commuting and people are not commuting the way they were, five days a week. That is part of the reason the rail service has been slower to come back. That pattern may become permanent and I expect it will. Blended working seems pretty much widespread in the Departments where I am working and it seems to be the same in the private sector. That may allow Irish Rail to reconfigure services. I agree with the Acting Chairman. Members of this House are constantly reminding me of the example of the Waterford rail service. I think the last train runs at 6.30 p.m. or 7 p.m. There is not even a late evening service people could catch at 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. Members make a case for a later service and I agree with them.

In the past two years, it has been slow and difficult to get civil engineering work done, primarily because of planning delays. However, we have been able to buy additional carriages, both main intercity carriages and new battery electric carriages. Iarnród Éireann should deploy those carriages and have a longer service list rather than everything being concentrated on the historic path, which was all about the commuting run and so on. The company will have the carriages to do that and the change in transport patterns may encourage it to do so. I certainly would encourage it to provide later services.