Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív sincerely for raising this important topic which, he will understand, I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan.

I clarify, as the Deputy will be well aware, that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibility for securing the provision of public passenger transport services nationally rests with the National Transport Authority. However, I reassure the Deputy that Iarnród Éireann is working towards a strategy for substantial enhancement of services on intercity routes in the short to medium term, including Dublin to Galway and Limerick to Galway. However, it must be noted these enhancements will be subject to agreement with and funding by the NTA, as well as the completion of other projects to release rolling stock to realise these service enhancements.

More immediately, while the existing Iarnród Éireann operational fleet is already fully deployed on scheduled services, last year larnród Éireann took delivery of the final batch of 41 intercity rail cars, with the carriages to enter service during 2024.

The exact deployment of the additional carriages is still to be determined but they should allow for capacity increases across the network.

On the Dublin to Galway line, I understand that Iarnród Éireann continues to operate the pre-Covid schedule on this line, with ten train services each way daily. Further, I understand that Iarnród Éireann intends to implement substantial enhancements in intercity service levels on the Dublin to Galway line, building towards an hourly service in the coming months. More generally, Iarnród Éireann is maximising use of its rolling stock to meet demand and will continue to monitor passenger loadings, as the Deputy has described. I understand that passenger numbers have recovered significantly post-pandemic, particularly on longer distance rail services.

The next significant rail expansion involves two initial orders of 185 electric and battery-electric carriages for the DART+ fleet, placed in December 2021, which is 95 carriages, and December 2022, which is 90 carriages. Up to 750 carriages in total are to be ordered over the coming decade. The first 95 carriages will arrive from the middle of this year, entering service from 2025. This will allow for further service improvements across the rail network. I want to reassure the Deputy that the Department of Transport, the NTA and Iarnród Éireann are working to ensure the optimised deployment of resources across the public transport network to match changing passenger demand patterns.

The Deputy has outlined what I consider to be reasonable requests but they are ambitious ones. He is right; I do not know if deliberately quoted "Field of Dreams" but I fully agree with him that if you build it they will come. As someone who is lucky to live on a light rail network in my part of the world, a part of the world the Deputy knows as well as I do, it has transformed the commuter experience for so many generations of people since it came into operation 20 years ago. The Government is committed to making sure that is realised for Galway as well. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Ryan, completely shares this. I undertake to bring all of this back to him and to make sure the Deputy gets those detailed updates from his office and the NTA as they develop over this coming year.

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