Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)

The Minister for Transport could not be here this evening as there are a number of Cabinet meetings taking place today. He asked me to respond on his behalf and to update the House on the most recent discussions relating to the Dublin-Belfast rail link which happened on 4 November at the North-South Ministerial Council.

The council was briefed on the collapse of the Malahide viaduct, to which Senator Keaveney referred, its impact on services and on progress on reconstruction work which has since been completed. That has resulted in the restoration of services.

Irish Rail and Northern Ireland Railways are jointly working to regain market share. The council also asked both rail companies to explore options to improve the reliability of the existing trains in the short term. This is distinct from plans to expand the fleet size to allow hourly departures in the medium term or to potentially purchase a new fleet of high speed trains in the long term to allow a 90-minute journey time.

The current service requires 28 coaches plus six locomotives to sustain operations. Discussions have taken place about the best option available in terms of reconfiguring this fleet to give a significant improvement in reliability and the North-South Ministerial Council has asked that the financial implications of the proposals to improve the reliability of the trains on the line be reviewed with a view to putting in place a reconfigured fleet as soon as possible.

In regard to pricing structure issues, to which Senator Keaveney referred, the position is that the Enterprise service is jointly run by Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland Railways. Each company is in control of its own pricing policy. Iarnród Éireann's fares reflect the cost of providing the services from Dublin and all costs are calculated in euro. Due to fluctuating exchange rates between euro and sterling as well as the differences in costs between the two jurisdictions, it is inevitable that there will be variations in the relative levels of Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland Railways fares.

Against this background, the council was advised that it would not be appropriate to adjust fares to ensure complete harmonisation between sterling and the euro in the near future. There have been extreme fluctuations between the currencies over the past six months - a 12% difference between highs and lows - and there would be resource implications for constantly monitoring and changing prices to take account of these fluctuations. However, it is considered important that fares are stabilised at current levels to ensure that the focus remains on attracting passengers back to the service in the short term. The council was advised that harmonisation should be considered over a number of years.

In regard to the issue of information on pricing and exchange rates, I suggest that could be raised with National Consumer Agency with a view to it assisting the Senator.