Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Duncan Smith for raising this topic. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan. Deputy Smith is right; quite a number of my constituents who use Laytown, Drogheda, Stamullen and Gormanston stations are affected by this.

The Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, but neither the Minister or his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. That rests with the National Transport Authority, NTA. That said, the Government is absolutely committed to ensuring all citizens have reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options, and public transport is a key deliverer of this goal. To support this under the budget a funding package of €613 million was secured for public service obligation and Local Link services. This package includes fare reductions, the extension of the young adult card on PSO and commercial bus services to include 24- and 25-year-olds, and the continuation of the 90-minute fare until the end of this year. Funding was also secured to support the continued roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government is strongly committed to improving public transport and is backing up that commitment with significant infrastructure investments across the network. This includes funding for initiatives such as the DART+ programme, the new DART+ fleet, the proposed replacement of the current enterprise fleet, and the introduction of an additional 41 intercity railcars. Residents who live along the Drogheda-Dublin line are receiving information about the public consultation and the planning process that is under way. A lot of work is about to happen to improve services.

Iarnród Éireann, in conjunction with the NTA, conducts an annual timetable review, with the most recent changes we all know about in north Dublin and east Meath entering into force on the 25 August. As the Deputy alluded to, these changes included extra services on the Belfast, Galway, Waterford, Cobh, and Midleton routes. The Belfast service impacts this particular line to facilitate an hourly frequency on the enterprise service from Dublin to Belfast and that can benefit some commuters in Drogheda as well.

As with all major rail timetable changes, Iarnród Éireann is required to closely monitors implementation to identify any issues that arise. Unfortunately, massive issues have arisen since the latest timetable has been in place. That has led to congestion in the Connolly Station area.

On foot of the identification of these issues a number of subsequent changes were made to the timetable on 16 September to help improve punctuality on the affected rail services. The most significant update is time changes mainly of between three and seven minutes on a range of services on the Maynooth and Drogheda lines, with some minor changes on other routes. Minor changes will also be in place on Sligo services and one of the M3 Parkway commuter services, with no changes to any Heuston services.

Iarnród Éireann should monitor closely the new timetable to identify any issues that may arise and listen strongly to what the Deputy said. Iarnród Éireann is reporting that at least the services seem to be keeping more to the timetable since 16 September, notwithstanding the other issues raised by him about the service in general.

There were some operational issues on 16 and 17 September as well and these issues particularly affected the evening peak service. I reassure the Deputy that the Department of Transport, the NTA, and Iarnród Éireann are working to ensure the best deployment of resources across the public transport network to match the demand of all of our constituents.

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