James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Minister for Transport, I thank the Senator again for his comments. As mentioned, no decisions have yet been made to alter services on the Rosslare line. Currently, three train services run from Wicklow to Dublin during weekday morning hours.There are gaps of up to approximately five hours between consecutive services in the daytime. Instead of the current train pattern, the DART extension arrangements under consideration by the NTA would allow an hourly DART service from Wicklow town into Dublin city centre and significantly enhance the train service to and from Wicklow town. I am not sure that gives much succour to the people of Gorey, however. At a later stage, when infrastructure proposals are finalised and in development, detailed train operating timetables will be prepared. This timetabling exercise will consider both interchange services where passengers would change from diesel services to DART trains at Wicklow and the potential for some direct non-DART services running into Dublin city centre. The Minister for Transport assures the Senator that there will be a public consultation process undertaken at the relevant stage in relation to any new timetabling proposals and, as set out in the opening statement, Iarnród Éireann has been monitoring the east coast rail line and the effects of coastal erosion on it for many years.