Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am hardly surprised the Minister is not taking responsibility because that is a general trend of his. He Minister described teething problems. Charlie Weston tweeted this morning that he takes the train every morning and it has not been on time since 9 September. The Minister alluded to DART frequency, with trains now arriving every ten minutes, but there are shorter trains so there is no increase in capacity. This is at a time when, as a country, we are failing to meet our emission targets and are trying to encourage people to migrate from their cars to public transport.

Can I ask the Minister's opinion on the example of a commuter from Mullingar? The person said they used to get the former 7.31 a.m. train from Mullingar, which got them into work for 9 a.m., but which now leaves 15 minutes earlier and is scheduled to arrive five minutes sooner than the current train. The train for the person's return journey leaves at 5.10 p.m. and arrives in Mullingar ten minutes later. We have a situation where the busiest train in the morning is leaving 15 minutes earlier to arrive five minutes sooner while in the evening, it takes ten minutes longer to get home. That is an extra 20 minutes a day for a commuter who pays €3,600 per annum for the benefit of that service.

When was the last time Irish Rail purchased rolling stock and when will that rolling stock be delivered? I heard the Minister on "This Week" at the weekend talking about his budget priorities and I was surprised he did not mention a priority for an increase in spending on public transport.

The Minister's responsibility is to ensure the funding to Irish Rail is returned to what it was in 2008-09.

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