Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

I am delighted that Deputy Gogarty is talking about coming to Galway. We want people to come to Galway.

At the outset, I wish to clarify that while the Minister for Transport, Deputy O’Brien, has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, neither he, the Minister of State or our 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 rests with the NTA. The NTA works with the public transport operators which deliver the services and have responsibility for day-to-day operational matters. I reassure the Deputy that the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. Public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. I agree with the Deputy with regard to giving a good experience to people and that if their experience is good, they will continue to use public transport. To support this objective, under budget 2025, a €652 million funding package was secured for the public service obligation, PSO, and Local Link services.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government is backing up its commitment to improving public transport with significant infrastructure investments across the network. Under the National Development Plan 2021-2030, the introduction of additional public transport infrastructure will help to relieve congestion on the transport network while also providing for new rolling stock to provide greater capacity for Iarnród Éireann’s increasing passenger numbers into the future. This includes the Government’s commitment to funding for initiatives, such as the DART+ programme, the new DART+ fleet, the proposed replacement of the current Enterprise fleet and the introduction of 41 new intercity railcars.

Adamstown and Kishoge stations, located in west Dublin, are served by a number of Iarnród Éireann services on the lines to Heuston. Adamstown Station is served by the Dublin Heuston to Cork, Grand Canal Dock and Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise, Dublin Heuston to Newbridge and Grand Canal Dock to Hazelhatch services. Kishoge Station is served by the Dublin Heuston to Cork, Dublin Heuston to Waterford and the Grand Canal Dock and Dublin Heuston to Portlaoise services.

The line between Hazelhatch to Park West is a four-track section, which allows intercity trains to operate on an express non-stop service. The commuter trains on this line stop at all commuter stops, enabled by the four-track section, without the intercity and commuter services slowing down as well. Iarnród Éireann provides an interchange between commuter and intercity services for customers travelling to and from commuter stations such as Adamstown and Kishoge. This typically happens at the following stations: Kildare, for connections to and from Waterford; Portarlington, for connections to and from Galway and Westport; and Portlaoise, for connections to and from Cork, Kerry and Limerick. Such models of interchange are typical on rail systems internationally to facilitate the balance between demand for competitive intercity journey times and the provision of connections for a broad range of journeys. There are some occasions when intercity trains stop at additional stations such as Newbridge or Sallins where a commuter connection is otherwise unavailable. Stopping intercity services at Adamstown, Kishoge or other commuter stations would increase journey times by five minutes per stop on intercity services. Additionally, these increased stops would take up additional track capacity, reducing the overall number of trains which can operate.

I 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 match passenger demand. The points the Deputy makes need to be considered, however, and I will bring them back to the NTA.

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