Michelle Mulherin (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What I described to the Minister goes beyond the item set out as a Topical Issue matter. The service does not compare with the Cork service.

10 o’clock

I understand all passenger services are subsidised. People in County Mayo are entitled to have an early bird service arrive in Heuston Station at the scheduled time in order that they can conduct business in Dublin. They should not be delayed because their train is required to make way for a new train service from Cork, which is already well serviced. The general attitude appears to be that certain services are secondary.

In some circumstances, passengers must stand on a train for the three or three and a half hour journey to County Mayo. The problem is not confined to commuter areas. While there is pandemonium until commuters disembark, people still cannot secure seats further west than the commuter towns on the route. Iarnród Éireann should address the problem in a better fashion. If the company does not have sufficient capacity, it should be able to deal with passengers turning up to board a train rather than loading them on like cattle.

Will the Minister ask Iarnród Éireann to explain the reason it cannot schedule the early bird Cork train, rather than the Mayo train, to arrive ten minutes later? I do not know of any good reason not to do so, other than that the company intends to provide a premium service to one area and not to another area.

Is Iarnród Éireann pursuing a new policy of leaving stations unmanned? This problem is occurring in Castlebar. What happens when people who are unable to use ticket machines at a station board a train and are found not to have a ticket?

I ask for equity in the train service to County Mayo as I do not wish to raise these issues again and again.

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