Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, to the Chamber and wish him continued success in his transport portfolio and as a Minister of State attending Cabinet. As Members will be aware, catering facilities on trains were stopped during Covid. They returned on a limited number of services, specifically Dublin to Cork. Irish Rail had committed to a full restoration of catering services by the end of 2024, but obviously that did not happen. Last month, Irish Rail and the National Transport Authority, NTA, stated that there was not sufficient funding to restore catering services. In 2025, if there is not sufficient funding to restore catering services, we need to know what is required, because it is an unacceptable answer as far as I am concerned.

Catering services are an essential and, frankly, basic part of train travel for commuters and tourists alike. Ireland is currently the only country in western Europe which does not provide catering services, which is not an acceptable standard. We want to promote public transport and make it more attractive. We are providing funding to do that in every budget, yet at the same time, we are providing rail services where people cannot get a cup of tea or coffee, something that they could do, as the Minister of State is well aware, 25, 35 or 40 years ago. It is entirely illogical. Especially for those who rarely use the train, it is the easiest way we can increase usage of public transport, as the Minister of State will be aware, by making irregular customers travel more often. For that to happen, we should aim to provide the best experience possible.

We also need to ensure that we are giving tourists the best experience in every way. Obviously tourism is an important sector for Ireland. It is a sector in which we were doing well for a long time, but we cannot take it for granted. Tourists have a basic expectation of being able to get water, a mineral or some food on trains, and we need to meet those criteria. I commute from Galway on the train and a considerable number of people who have been sitting close to me in the past 18 months have expressed surprise and disappointment, especially on the early morning trains, that they cannot get a cup of coffee, a sandwich or whatever it might be. In my opinion, there is a health and safety aspect to this, where if a person falls ill, which has happened, or if there is a medical emergency, there is not even access to a bottle of water on the train.

There has been a troubling lack of transparency on the issue. Surely the NTA or Irish Rail should be able to clarify what funding is required to restore the service so that at least all information is available, but that does not seem to be the case, or certainly the information is not being provided. I raised this previously, in 2021, and got commitments on that occasion. I have no doubt the Minister of State will be bringing good news shortly. The situation should not be tolerated for this long and I urge Government to take action to address it immediately.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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I thank Senator Crowe for the question. It is an issue which we have discussed within the Department. It is an important issue because, for me, the experience of a passenger on public transport is key to getting them to repeat using it and trying to reduce the number of cars. I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding of public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services, such as catering services, which are an operational matter for Iarnród Éireann. That said, I can assure the Senator that Iarnród Éireann worked hard to restore catering services where possible following the conclusion of the Covid-19 restrictions and engaged extensively with a range of operators in the market in order to do so. However, with costs of up to four times the previous levels quoted, Iarnród Éireann has had to work to deliver the service on a limited basis and within available funding.

Iarnród Éireann successfully restored catering on the Dublin to Cork route with Irish company Carriage Food Services Limited providing this service on an interim basis while a national tender was undertaken. Onboard catering is also available on the Dublin to Belfast Enterprise service, jointly operated by Iarnród Éireann and Translink. This is provided under a separate contract. As an alternative measure, I am assured that Iarnród Éireann is working to enhance retail and catering offerings at stations, and customers are also allowed to bring their own food and beverages, excluding alcohol, on board.

A full tender process was undertaken for catering services across the intercity network. While costs have been determined, Irish Rail has only been in a position to contract catering on the Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Belfast routes within the current public service obligation, PSO, funding arising from this tender process. The company continues to engage with the National Transport Authority and Department of Transport about scope for any further funding to support this reintroduction, if at all possible, in the future.

The Department of Transport secured €658 million in funding for the PSO and TFI Local Link services in budget 2025, an increase from €613 million in 2024. From this, we extended the 20% fare reduction and 90-minute fare on PSO services so that everyone would benefit until the end of 2025. Equally, we have extended the 50% reduction available for young adults on board the PSO and commercial bus services until the end of 2025. We are supporting new and enhanced bus services and rail services too. Further measures introduced this year are the extension of free travel for children from five years to eight years of age and, most recently, the roll-out of the NTA distance-based and more equitable fares strategy, with significant reductions in fares for many as a result.Therefore funding of the public transport service is focused on existing fare initiatives and service provision, such as BusConnects in the five cities, expanding town services in the large towns, and rolling out Connecting Ireland in rural Ireland. These measures are working to enhance factors such as frequency, accessibility and reliability in attracting and retaining the users. Therefore funding for additional catering costs on intercity rail services is not available at this time.

I can assure the House that this Government is committed to delivering an accessible, reliable and affordable public transport system for all our citizens, including children. Under the programme for Government, our commitments include the roll-out of contactless payments, for which the contract has already been awarded, keeping fares affordable, and examining the future expansion of free public transport for children. I assure the Senator that the Minister for Transport is committed to making improvements to public transport services while at the same time ensuring that our system remains financially sustainable in the long term.

Ollie Crowe (Fianna Fail)
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I thank Minister of State, Deputy Canney, for his detailed response. I find it a little bit disingenuous that the Dublin to Belfast and Dublin to Cork lines have been sorted out but we are nearly forgotten about in the west. As a leading Minister of State in the west, I know it is a high priority for him, but to say it is an operational issue, I do not know. The trains are packed and, in fairness, there has been significant funding put in to bring down the cost of fares, and that is very welcome. We need to complete the process. If it is good enough for Cork and Belfast to and from Dublin, then I do not see why the Galway to Dublin line cannot be rectified. We are the only country in western Europe where customers on intercity rail services do not have a catering option. I am referring to the Galway-Dublin line. The handling of this issue by Irish Rail with broken promises to restore the catering services by the end of 2024 and its limited communication is unacceptable at best. I ask the Minister for Transport to intervene and do his level best to return the catering services to the Galway to Dublin line.

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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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.