Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for allowing me to come in. I welcome yesterday's announcement that Irish Rail has commissioned a study that will look into the infrastructural improvements need to increase capacity on the Ennis to Limerick line. Additional resources to strengthen the rail infrastructure in Clare is always welcome. I look forward to seeing the results of that study. Is there any indication of a timeline for its expected completion? I hope the study will address the issues that have been identified to me so far with the proposal for a rail spur out to Shannon Airport. As I understand the matter, when this spur is completed, it will not be possible for trains to travel on the Ennis-Limerick and Shannon-Limerick lines at the same time. Is that the case? If so, has Irish Rail considered either a passing loop, a dynamic overtaking loop or a dual line to solve the problem?

I recently raised the possibility of extending the spur line out beyond Shannon to west Clare and Moneypoint because of the connectivity issues relating to west Clare. The west Clare railway was hugely successful at one time.

Irish Rail’s second announcement yesterday about QR code tickets was of great interest to me as someone who uses the train to get from Ennis to Dublin and back every week. I meet many of my Clare constituents doing the same. When will Irish Rail roll out the digital ticket service to all regional routes? What tech and infrastructural upgrades may be required to do so?

This has been a very interesting discussion. I have learned quite a lot about how Irish Rail can help with the reduction of the carbon footprint in terms of freight and about the women in leadership programme. The desire to increase that is positive.

Irish Rail has been pretty good about coming back to me if I raise an issue. It has not been something that it has been able to resolve straight away, the Irish Rail people have kept an eye on it. For example, last year, I raised the Sunday train service from Galway to Limerick that passes through Ennis. I have used the service many times. Because of all the students travelling to their accommodation on Sunday evenings, it gets extremely busy with people standing and so on. The provision of 41 extra carriages was mentioned. Have any of those been made available for this service?