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Seanad
‹ An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

Early commuter trains from Wexford

Summary

Senator Byrne calls for an earlier Wexford–Dublin commuter service so residents of Gorey and surrounding areas can reach work on time.

I agree with the comments by Senator Craughwell on the need to reform the enduring power of attorney system. I have said in this Chamber before that the system is not working. It needs legislative change and, ultimately, the goal has to be to make it accessible, user-friendly and fully available throughout the country, which, at the moment, it is not.

I want to raise the lack of early morning commuter trains from Wexford to Dublin. If you live in Gorey, you can get on a train at 5.45 a.m. that will have you in Dublin Connolly at 7.47 a.m., which is time enough to make your way to work. If you live further south in County Wexford, it is not possible to get an early commuter train. If you live in Rosslare, Wexford town or Enniscorthy, the earliest train service does not arrive in Dublin until 8.48 a.m., a full hour after the service from Gorey.

Iarnród Éireann, given the amount of Government investment in rail services, needs to offer that service to people who live in Rosslare, Wexford town or Enniscorthy. They told me at the Oireachtas infrastructure committee that we could be waiting up to two years for this service to be available. All that needs to happen is for extra carriages to be added to the early morning train from Gorey and for it to start further south on the track. I would like the Minister for Transport to come into this Chamber and have an honest discussion about where things are going with early morning commuter train services.

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