Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. As the Minister knows, thousands of people commute between Dundalk and Dublin every day. One of my constituents sent me an email during the week, on the subject of the 16:50 Dublin to Belfast train. The email states:

This evening, for the second time in eight days I had to stand all the way from Connolly station to Dundalk on the 16:50 Enterprise. On each occasion the incoming train arrived late with no expected arrival time advised... There was no one checking on tickets and no one managing to see how many people were going on board. Today, like last Tuesday, the aisle of each carriage was absolutely packed with passengers standing all the way to Dundalk, elderly and pregnant people have been left standing, there is not even room to sit on the floor. If there was a crash, it would be carnage as huge numbers of people were not secured and would be thrown all around the carriage. There was no checking of tickets on Irish Rail. I paid €28.15 return. I would be grateful if you could explain how Irish Rail are planning to compensate customers affected and ensure that developing world transport conditions will not continue on key routes in a wealthy country at first world prices.

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