Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)

I want to talk about my hometown of Athy. I have been dealing with Irish Rail over the last period about increasing the frequency of rail services from the commuter town of Athy into Dublin. I was pleased with a recent response from Irish Rail that told me the imminent DART+ fleet coming on stream would free up additional carriages. We are looking for an hourly service from Athy and also on the Waterford line. That would definitely benefit the huge increase in the population of Athy but also the commuting towns right down to the city of Waterford. Unfortunately, Athy has an overreliance on private transport. Having an hourly service from the town into Dublin would be most welcome.

Irish Rail's reply stated that it would be based on demand and the NTA's approval.

In the past three or four days, I put a petition online and it already has 2,000 signatures, which I will share with the Minister of State at the end of the day. There is demand for an hourly service from Athy to Dublin for all those commuting. As part of this review, I hope the Minister of State will consider that hourly service from Athy and other commuter towns along the Waterford line to Dublin and providing the additional carriages on the line to accommodate it. The demand is obvious from the petition I put up online recently. I hope the Government will give the people the necessary services they deserve.

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