Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

As I have said, the Department has engaged with the NTA and Iarnród Éireann on the matter of restoring catering services on intercity services and, where possible, services have been restored, with catering now available on the Belfast and Cork lines. At present, due to funding constraints, there are no plans to reintroduce catering services on all other rail lines as funding is currently focused on other measures such as improving frequency, reliability and keeping fares low. While it has been possible to restore some services, there is a significant cost attached to the provision of such catering services and the income is much less than the cost, resulting in funding for such provision not being available. As I advised earlier, the costs are up to four times the previous levels quoted before Covid-19. larnród Eireann is working to deliver the service on a limited basis and within available funding. Accordingly, Irish Rail is not in a position to offer other services at this time. The Department will continue to engage with the company.

I am confident that we all agree it is essential that the Government continues to invest in our public transport network and that we are supportive of the Government's commitment towards delivering accessible, affordable and reliable public transport throughout the country. A number of improvements have been made to intercity services to meet growing demand, with Iarnród Éireann deploying all available fleet during peak times. In 2024, 41 additional intercity carriages were introduced, boosting capacity on the Sligo, Galway, Westport and Belfast lines. It is important to note that Ceannt Station in Galway is being developed and Limerick station has been developed, and I hope to visit it next week or the week after. We are investing in the infrastructure because we have such demand for public transport and we need to be able to meet that demand and keep people interested in using it. The catering is another part of that but the priority is to get services and frequency right. We are doing the passing loop in Oranmore to create more frequency in and out of Galway. Under the all-Ireland rail review, we hope we will be looking at the expansion of the rail network throughout the country. There is a lot happening and this is part of it. I will be talking to my officials again on it.