John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I join previous speakers in welcoming the Minister to the Chamber to discuss this important issue. I congratulate him on the sprinting start he has made and hope it continues over the next number of years in order that the transformation needed in our public transport infrastructure is realised. Considerable investment has been made. Mainline track and signalling have been upgraded while new rolling stock will be offered shortly. Passengers have yet to benefit from this programme of investment. Journey times on the main Intercity routes are longer than they were 25 years ago.

Rail transport offered to the public in the form of DART, regional, commuter and mainline services, needs to be revamped and repackaged. This will not happen without a major process of reform within the national rail company, Iarnród Éireann. In this context, I am glad the Minister recently announced he was prepared to tackle the issue of structural reform to put the national rail company on a sound footing. We must face the facts. Iarnród Éireann, as currently constituted, does not provide the travelling public with the range of services required by the market and the company is not sufficiently responsive to the needs of the market when it comes to introducing new services and products.