Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)

Touching on capacity and improvement to the services in Drogheda, the 7.30 Belfast to Dublin service from Drogheda is supposed to be a six-carriage train. Recently, due to operational and mechanical issues, I think, the number of carriages has had to be reduced in recent weeks. The other carriages have been deployed elsewhere. I have been in contact with Irish Rail. Those carriages will be returned in the medium term, but that is not really any use to the people who are using this service in the short term. It is the fastest train to Dublin at rush hour and peak times, but it is operating at half the capacity. Can the Department follow up with Irish Rail and Translink to ensure that the six carriages are returned as soon as possible, particularly as they are of crucial importance to those who use the service? Thanks a million.

On maritime transport and safety, the aviation service and the Bristow contract, I know this is an ongoing query that the Department receives quite a lot. There are questions around how the contract could be awarded to a company that is using smaller helicopters that are unable to stay at the scene of an incident beyond ten minutes or something like that, which does not really work for multi-fatality incidents, etc. These helicopters do not have the capacity the old helicopters had to take multiple casualties, particularly if they are on stretchers. Can the officials comment on that? Essentially, we have the taxpayer paying more for an inferior service that has extensive limitations, yet this is something that was the subject of plaudits in the opening statement. I am keen to hear the response on that.