Mr. Eoin Gillard:

There is a mixture of reasons for the closures on bank holiday weekends between infrastructure maintenance and the ongoing maintenance of the railway. The projects are designed over the year and tend to try to work within any planned closures. I cannot say specifically what this weekend's closure is dealing with but there may be elements of the DART project being undertaken at the same time. We can come back with more detail if required.

Regarding the planned roll-out of DART services on the northern lie, the first phase is the battery-electric trains running to Drogheda. A subsequent phase, which is subject to rail order, will enhance the frequency as well. The testing and commissioning of the DART fleet is ongoing at the moment. It is somewhat innovative in that it is using battery-electric technology, with battery-charging infrastructure being put in place. The current planned timeline is subject to the authorisation to place the fleet into service, which is a statutory procedure. The timeline for that could change but, at the moment, the programme is as indicated.