Derek McDowell (Labour)

I wish to raise the extraordinary decision of Iarnród Éireann announced today, which was clearly taken some time ago, to periodically close down the DART service at weekends for most of the next 18 months. The Leader will be familiar with this decision because she made similar announcements on at least a half dozen occasions during her tenure as Minister for Public Enterprise. It seems extraordinary that it has taken Iarnród Éireann five or six years to use a plan, albeit a woefully inadequate one, to carry out what seems to be simple work. Eight-carriage trains, as opposed to the current six-carriage trains, will be in use. It is beyond me why it is necessary to close the network at weekends for the next 18 months to do this and I would like an explanation.

It seems that the planning issue has little to do with planning and more to do with getting votes. The proposal in that regard is a cynical and opportunistic effort by some representatives of rural constituencies to defend the perceived right of farmers to destroy the rural environment by selling sites. There is a need to introduce balance in regard to this issue when we come to debate it.