Joe Flaherty (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for facilitating the additional time to hear the very important issues from Longford. I know that is why the time was extended. Obviously, at the risk of giving a history lesson, we could blame Henry Ford for the state of our rail service. That is probably why we have no one from Cork in the Chamber to take responsibility because they claim him as a Cork man. Certainly, we had a much better rail service 150 years ago. Obviously, the advent of the car and car transport and the fact that it became so cheap to buy cars changed how we travelled in Ireland. We are now looking to go full circle to some degree. When I hear people talking about the western rail corridor, I wonder would they swap the Wild Atlantic Way for it, large tracts of which are built on what was a railway track. Would they swap one for the other? It is important we get more people back on our trains.

I am delighted to hear many people mention Jim Meade. He was a force for great good in Irish Rail. He drove through phenomenal change and he took on the agenda of getting us back on trains. We have a lot to be proud of with our rail service in Ireland, notwithstanding the challenges we have. In comparison with the UK, where there are multiple operators, we have one single operator in Ireland. Our trains are much cheaper and efficient and our staff are better. We have a lot of positives but we certainly need to make rail travel more accessible.

Speaking specifically on the Sligo to Longford rail line, when I met Jim Meade, he assured me at the time that Irish Rail was conducting a review of the route at that stage to establish the exact point where two trains cannot pass each other. For example, if both the Dublin-bound train and the Sligo-bound train are coming, one has to stop, which can often add up to 45 minutes to the journey time. The journey time at the minute is 2 hours and 15 minutes. If that journey time could be reduced to one hour and a half, it would mean that it would be quicker to travel to Dublin by rail than by car. I am being told unofficially that the cost of those works would be €250 million. In the context of the infrastructure challenges we have in Ireland at the minute, that is money well spent and should be included in the national development plan. As Senator Brady referenced, Longford is very much in the commuter district now. Those early morning trains in particular are full. If we were able to achieve that journey time reduction, it would ease the situation with regard to the demand for housing.

In those discussions, Mr. Meade assured us that we would have an hourly train service from Longford to Dublin by early 2027. It is critical we follow through on that. Ideally, if we could get that earlier, it would be much better. We also need a later train. Mr. Meade told me that, as part of those plans, we would have a late train leaving Dublin at 8 p.m., which would be welcome. I would like to see that go to 9 o'clock, but his issue in that regard was the time the train would be arriving in Sligo for staff. We need more late evening trains to take account of people trying to get to Dublin for events and concerts.

Many people have mentioned the food trolley or the food carriage. I listened to Mr. Barry Kenny speak on the radio during the week where he explained that it is not Irish Rail that provides those food carts. Rather, it is an outside provider which Irish Rail pays to provide this service. There is an opportunity for Irish Rail in this regard. If it works with local communities, it may find a young person who wants to open a food truck outside the station. I am sure Irish Rail is not getting that food carriage service cheap. If it could redirect that money and give it to the local community or some guy who wishes to start up a food business, let those people operate and it would be money very well spent. I hope engagement could be had in that regard.