Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for coming into the Chamber this evening and the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this very important topic. I want to talk about services in my home town of Athy in Kildare South. The population of Athy, in the recent census, was over 11,000 people. That is a growth of 82% since the 2002 census. Every morning, almost 50% of the working population of the town leaves it to avail of work elsewhere. That is a figure that grows year on year as more and more families make the town their home.

We have a wonderful train station. Considerable work has been done by Irish Rail on the train station, particularly around access, over the last number of months and that will benefit a lot of people. The problem we have in the town is that the 12 services that are there each morning are full, and a lot of people are finding it more and more difficult to avail of train times and get a seat on the trains that are there. In Kildare town, which is just a bit further up the track and has a couple of hundred fewer people than the town of Athy, there are 38 services per day versus the 12 that operate from Athy.

I have raised this with the Minister, who has sent that request on to Irish Rail, which has come back to me. In its reply, it said Iarnród Éireann aspires to increase the frequency of intercity services across the network over the coming years, including the Waterford-Dublin Heuston route, which includes the town of Athy. It went on to say that as the new DART+ fleet enters service in the greater Dublin area in 2027, this will free up intercity and commuter carriages for use elsewhere on the network, and that including any necessary infrastructure works, the precise order of the introduction of extra services will be subject to demand and the approval of the NTA.

Since I received that letter, we have launched a petition in Athy. As I speak to the Minister of State this evening, there are almost 4,000 signatures on that petition. It is 3,867, to be precise. They are from people who live in Athy and the greater Athy area and use the train service day in, day out but have problems with it. They are confined to hours they can work in Dublin, Newbridge, Naas and other places where they may get work. That is causing a serious problem for the social infrastructure of the town. There are also a lot of students who, unfortunately, cannot get accommodation in the colleges in Dublin and are still living at home in Athy. They are also suffering because of the times and restrictions in times that are on the line at the moment, so much so that a lot of them, myself included, will get a phone call late at night asking them to go to Kildare or Portlaoise train stations to collect somebody who has either missed a train or had to stay late for whatever reason, be that work or study.

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I am asking the Minister for Transport to support the call by the people of Athy to include that train service, and by extension Carlow town, in additional services. What we really need is an hourly service from the town, because it is a growing town. Over 11,000 people live in the town at the moment. We need additional services. We need to ensure that a person can get a seat on the train but also that it does not discriminate against work or study for those who have chosen Athy, the great town that it is, as their place to live in.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Wall for raising this issue. I have taken a couple of Topical Issue matters from him and Athy seems to feature fairly prominently. Fair play. He is representing the place well. It is interesting that he is providing a bit of a taxi service for anybody who misses a train. That is the right thing to do. Fair play to him.

Funding and policymaking for public transport is down to the Minister of State, Deputy Séan Canney, but as the Deputy knows, the day-to-day operation is for the NTA, in conjunction with Irish Rail and so on. I reassure the Deputy that, as outlined in the programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, the Government is strongly committed to enhancing transportation networks and infrastructure development, and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, under budget 2025, the Department of Transport secured over €658 million of funding for public service obligation and TFI Local Link services, an increase from over €613 million in 2024.

This package included funding for the continuation of the various fare initiatives, such as the young adult card and the 90-minute fare until the end of 2025. Funding has also been provided to extend free child fares on public service obligation, PSO, services to include those aged five to eight years old and to support the roll-out of new and enhanced bus and rail services under programmes such as BusConnects and Connecting Ireland. As is the case with all such measures, all funding matters are being considered as part of the ongoing budget 2026 discussions.

In relation to the Dublin to Waterford line, Iarnród Éireann has informed the Department of Transport that all services on this line stop at Athy Station. I understand that there are ten weekday services daily serving Athy, Waterford and Heuston, with additional services on Fridays and Saturdays. Athy has a typically reduced Sunday offering of five services on the Waterford-Heuston line.

In 2024, 154,449 passengers boarded the train at Athy station and 117,067 alighted, for a total of 271,516 trips to or from Athy last year. larnród Éireann is working towards a strategy for enhancement of services on InterCity routes in the short to medium term. However, it must be noted that these enhancements will be subject to agreement and funding by the NTA, as well as the completion of other projects in order to release rolling stock to realise these service enhancements. To meet growing demand, larnród Éireann is deploying all available fleet during peak times. In 2024, 41 additional InterCity railcar carriages were introduced, boosting capacity on key routes, including Sligo, Galway, Westport and Belfast.

As part of DART+, two fleet orders have been placed, for 185 carriages, largely battery electric with some electric units. The first order for the purchase of 95 additional DART carriages, comprising 65 battery electric carriages and 30 electric carriages, has started arriving and is undergoing certification and safety tasting. It is intended that the new battery electric sets will be initially deployed on the northern commuter line, serving Dublin from Drogheda, which does not necessarily help Deputy Wall's situation. The point is that efforts are being made to expand services. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is making every effort to increase available funding. Every time that a Deputy comes in here and looks for extra public transport services, that has to be taken seriously and delivering that should be encouraged as much as possible.

It is incredible to see the demand for train services. I am noticing lately that there is more and more demand for even the big intercounty train services. We need to accommodate that. It should be a given that public transport is available. There should be situations where people have to get into their own car to pick people up. I know that Deputy Canney will take this request seriously. He is not involved in the day-to-day running but I know that he can certainly relay messages to the NTA.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive reply. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, too. It is good news that the DART+ fleets are being rolled out, albeit on the Drogheda line, because that will free up carriages on the Drogheda line, which is what we want. We are first up, best dressed in Athy looking for those additional carriages that come as part of the new DART+ carriages that the Government has already welcomed and that will be part of the northern commuter line, serving Dublin to Drogheda. That is the part that I want to highlight with the Minister of State and, by extension, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. Once those carriages are put on the Drogheda line, it will free up the additional carriages. The people of Athy, through their petition and their public representatives, are asking that those carriages that were on the Dublin to Drogheda line would come and provide additional services on the Athy and, by extension, as I said, Carlow line.

The figures speak for themselves when you see that 271,000 people used the train station in Athy in 2024. That number is only growing. Thankfully, a number of new housing estates are being built in Athy and in various villages and towns in the locality. The Athy train station services an area extending into County Laois so a large cohort of people use that station each morning. There is adequate car parking and so on for an expansion at the station.

It is positive news that the new carriages are on the way for DART+. That is what the reply from the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and Iarnród Éireann actually said. It was that once those were in place, it would free up the other carriages. I am making a plea to both Ministers of State that the people of Athy are seeking those freed-up carriages to be put on the Waterford to Heuston line, because when that number of people are using public transport, it is always good and we should encourage more people to use public transport and save those car journeys late at night for those people who cannot get a train home to the town of Athy.

Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail)
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That is a point well made. Athy is obviously a growing town. It is an important commuter town, not just for people to work and commute but also for people to study and commute, so it is important that we facilitate that, take cars off the road and provide as much public transport as possible. The investment in the extra carriages, as outlined, on the Drogheda line will free up carriages. Deputy Wall has made the case well that much of that should be put on the Waterford to Heuston line, thereby enabling greater capacity for Athy. He is right that the numbers speak for themselves. An impressive number of journeys are taken on that line, in that area. We have to support that. If we are serious about reducing emissions and about climate action, wherever possible and where we have demand we need to facilitate this type of journey. I appreciate the Deputy bringing it up. If there is positivity to be taken from the response, it is that Iarnród Éireann is working towards a strategy of enhancement of services on InterCity routes in the short to medium term, but this will all be dependent on funding. I know that Deputy Canney is fighting hard for extra funding for public transport.

Mark Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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I thank the Minister of State.