Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Ukrainian ambassador, who is here representing her country which is fighting for democracy.

This weekend, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, will visit Athlone. He will probably travel there by train. He will see the fantastic newly painted bus station, which is very integrated, being located beside the train station in the town. Athlone will have soon have electric buses. There are many bus services from the town, such as a bus service to Dundalk for students. However, there is no service from Dublin to Galway, apart from private coach services, that stops in towns. I hope the Minister will recognise that this is a main artery and we need a bus service from Dublin to Galway. However, I wish to address the train service on the Dublin to Galway line. There is currently a 6.25 a.m. service from Galway to Dublin that stops at Athenry, Athlone and Tullamore. It does not stop in Ballinasloe, however. There are five services from Athlone to Dublin before 7.30 a.m. and they are much needed for a town of 25,000 people. The services mean people can get to work, college or appointments in Dublin by 9 a.m. Ballinasloe, however, only has one train service. It is not served by a bus route from Dublin to Galway and it has only one train service. I ask the Minister to consider adding Ballinasloe to the service that leaves Galway at 6.25 a.m. Yesterday, there was a call for the Minister, Deputy Ryan, to come to the House. I wish to add that issue to the matters he will address when he does so. I would like to find out about the punctuality of trains on that line in the past six months. There is also the fact that waiting rooms in train stations across the country are closed. That issue relates to staffing rosters. In Ballinasloe, for example, there are no staff after 1 p.m. on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. Last week, coming into winter, a person in his or her 70s had to wait at the station in the rain and cold even though there is a perfectly wonderful waiting room there. The waiting room was locked. People could not get into it.I would like to see what sort of smart solutions we can put in place for people to access waiting rooms at train stations. We have those services. They need to put in place, especially if one wants to use more public transport in rural areas.