James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I just caught the end of Deputy Heydon's contribution. My query also relates to rail services in Kildare but I think it is of a slightly different nature. As the Minister knows, I have been raising the plight of Kildare commuters since I entered this House and since the Minister became a Minister. At the stations in Sallins, Naas, Kilcock, Maynooth, Celbridge and elsewhere we have a problem with success. The service has improved. I would claim some responsibility for that improvement. I have been advocating for it for many years to the point that it is now a good service most of the time but is seriously overloaded. The carriages are bursting at the seams and it is difficult to physically board the trains. The car parks are bursting at the seams. Passengers can forget about getting a space after 7.30 a.m. Many passengers who get off at Heuston Station find they cannot get on the Luas either.

I regularly commute. I did so this morning and will run out of the Chamber shortly after this debate to catch a train back for a meeting tonight in the constituency. I see this every day. It has got to the stage that some people trying to board at Sallins and Hazelhatch cannot get on the train. They have to stand back or fight their way on and off and have further difficulties getting on the Luas. I give credit to the staff of Transdev, the Luas operating company. This morning, as one might see in a Japanese city or another city with high passenger volumes, they were physically managing people on and off the trams because they were so overcrowded.

I have tabled a number of parliamentary questions over the past two years since the Minister became Minister. I have repeatedly made the point that we needed extra capacity with additional rolling stock and carriages. I was very disappointed to receive a reply about a week ago stating that the National Transport Authority, NTA, had considered investment in refurbishment of carriages, spent two years investigating it and has now decided it could not do it because the costs were too great and there were risks relating to the supplier, Brexit issues, etc.

Two years on, the trains and trams are fuller than they ever were, not to mention the car park, and we have made no progress in reality. Had carriages been ordered two years ago - I believe there is a three-year lead-time - we might have been one year from getting them. Now we are still three years from getting them unless the Minister has news to the contrary. I look forward to his response.

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