Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to raise two issues. Senator O'Sullivan spoke about Kerry. If we could get the Wild Atlantic Way extended to Limerick, I have no doubt we would be on a level playing field with Kerry.

The issue I want to raise relates to Irish Rail. As a frequent user of Irish Rail I welcome the fact that there will be a public consultation on the service. I have raised this issue before. If we want to encourage the public to use public transport, in particular, rail transport, then we must have two things. In the modern world, we must have proper mobile coverage and proper broadband coverage. Irish Rail provides neither. We want to encourage business people to use what is an excellent service. The service includes online facilities and the trains are frequent and on time. However, we live in the modern world. If people are on trains and their mobile calls drop every few yards or their broadband coverage is such that they lose something, then they will become reluctant to travel by Irish Rail. Two infrastructural questions need to be examined. Why is mobile coverage so poor throughout the Irish Rail service? Why is broadband coverage so poor? If remedies to these problems were put in place, we could encourage more people to use the rail service and we might not continue to have these discussions.

I have no wish for any deterioration. We lost much of our rail network perhaps 50 years ago. I believe the service has to be developed in a way that encourages people to use it. These are two key issues. I will keep hammering on about them. The issues are broadband coverage and mobile coverage. They are atrocious in the Irish Rail service at the amount. In the modern world, these services need to be corrected and dealt with immediately.