Public Transport
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-18
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Barry Heneghan (IND), Dublin Bay North

My frustration with the current situation of ghost buses and infrequency of DART services certainly is one of the issues that got me involved in politics. I spoke this morning to a Clongriffin resident who had to run to the end of the platform and squeeze onto the train like a sardine to get to work. I understand there are restrictions on the lines in terms of the size of platforms and how many carriages can be installed but can the frequency of the service be increased? I know there is an unsolvable problem at Connolly Station but I have seen how efficiently run the transport system is in London. I do not have my head in the sky; I acknowledge we have a smaller population, that our country only recently became much wealthier and that we do not have the same infrastructure the UK has in place. However, we now have a lot more money and we have the ability and manpower to do this.
A concern is that even with MetroLink being rolled out, residents in north Dublin will still not be able to easily access the airport. The Minister of State will be well aware of the proposals for a monorail or a two-way system to connect the DART line to the airport, in conjunction with the metro, as an alternative solution. Will he comment on that?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-18