Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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12. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he is aware of the ongoing issues affecting the rail service between Athenry and Galway city, including persistent capacity constraints, service delays, and overcrowding during peak times; and the specific measures being considered to improve reliability, increase service frequency, and add additional carriages to better accommodate growing passenger demand on this route. [22564/25]

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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One of our greatest assets in the town of Athenry is now becoming one of our greatest pain points. Train services into Galway city are wholly inadequate. We need to see significant investment in additional carriages arriving at Athenry.

As mentioned previously, there are only two carriages going in on the first train in the morning. To put it bluntly, people are packed in like sardines. It is a complete disaster and it is very unfair on the people who are using this service.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Dolan for the question and I share some of his frustration as well, no more than the earlier comments from Deputy O'Hara. I know the Deputy is intensely interested in this issue. As we said earlier, there is no doubt there has been very strong passenger growth in recent years. It does pose challenges at certain times on the public transport network, including on the Athenry to Galway corridor. That has been recognised by Irish Rail. The good news is that a range of measures is being examined to address the issues raised by the Deputy, but to be clear some of these measures have short-term, medium-term and longer-term time horizons so I cannot promise to fix all issues at the one time.

With regard to the short-term measures, last year a revised timetable was introduced that saw an increase in services for Athenry, resulting in total daily services increasing to 39 per day. The changes also increased the number of pre-9 a.m. arrivals into Galway from Athenry from two services to three services every weekday morning. These measures were assisted by the entry into service of 41 additional intercity rail carriages last year, which has helped with capacity issues on the network generally. More, however, needs to be done.

In addition, the upgrade works at Ceannt Station are scheduled to be completed next year. These works, along with the new passing loop at Oranmore station, are vital short-term measures to create additional frequencies getting in and out of the city. Permission was granted in February and construction is expected to commence by the end of this year. These infrastructure projects will deliver additional capacity and efficiency to the rail network.

On medium-term measures, the Deputy is aware that the new DART+ fleet is currently being tested and will begin entry into service over the coming year. While this new fleet is DART specific it will have a knock-on benefit of allowing the release of existing fleet for deployment elsewhere including from Athenry to Galway. The question of where these are to be deployed is currently being reviewed by the NTA and Irish Rail.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I agree that the passing loop is welcome but it points out a huge issue with how we manage infrastructure in this country. Galway County Council was granted urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, funding in March 2021 for that passing loop. It was March 2024 before Irish Rail submitted a planning application for the passing loop. I welcome that it is to commence construction this September. If it has taken three years for Irish Rail to go for a planning application, what does that say about how urgent and how big this issue is in the minds of the country and the State? I want to see increased capacity and increased frequency in Athenry to ensure the people of Athenry who are using public transport and trying to do their bit have a good service they can depend on. I have had reports of people fainting and passing out on the train in the morning. It is genuinely that dangerous.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I share the Deputy's frustration about the length of time it takes to get projects delivered. This Government has been in place for three months. Our mantra is that we are a Government of implementation rather than a Government of strategising and that is the important thing. We will continue to work on that.

The passing loop will be very effective. It will be very important and construction is going to start on that towards the end of this year. I will be putting my shoulder to the wheel with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to make sure we get that started at the earliest possible date.

There is long-term ambition in the all-island rail review to ensure that we actually do a lot of passing loops right across the country as well as opening up existing railways again. It is great that we are talking about this because five or six years ago a lot of people were saying that we should be closing the line, especially from Athenry right down to Ennis because nobody was using it. Some 650,000 people are using that now. There is a statement in this that we have additional demand because the services are being provided. In the Department of Transport we are making sure that we not alone meet current demand but that we plan for the future as well.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely there can be no doubt that the economies of public transport have completely flipped the script over the last few years. We have seen fares come down and the cost of using a car has gone up. It makes more sense for people to use public transport. As the Minister of State well knows, Athenry is a booming town with huge growth potential over the coming years. We need to see a double track line all the way into Galway city. I do not know if this will come through the national development process or the all-island rail review but I seriously think we need to be looking at Athenry as the main connection point to Galway city and ensuring that people have adequate access to that public transport.

Recently we saw the announcement and now construction, with potentially thousands of jobs, of the Dexcom facility in Athenry. Athenry will be a hub and a connection point for the west. It is so important that there are adequate rail and bus services.

I must also raise the point that there is currently no bus serving Athenry into Galway city. Athenry is a town of 5,000 people and I hope the Minister of State would tackle that as well.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I am aware of the issues the Deputy has raised on the bus connections from Athenry to Galway. I believe a private operator was doing it but it was pulled. Basically I do not disagree with anything the Deputy is saying. It is important first of all that we look at the immediate steps we can take to start improving things, such as the provision of additional carriages and the installation of a passing loop in Oranmore. Double tracking is a more medium- to long-term project. It is part of the all-island rail review that I will be looking at. I am charged with the delivery of that rail review. We have lots of exciting projects on that. We need to just get them prioritised and get those done quickly that can be done quickly. We need to plan for doing the others in a way that ensures there is continuous work. There is no doubt that if we provide the infrastructure for public transport, people will use it. The fares are reasonable. All the time we are trying to get young people to think "If I am going someplace, I will go on a bus or a train". If people are living close to a train station, they do not need a car. We need to look at the planning framework for that as well.