asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that the closing down of the railway line for passenger service between Westport and Achill has caused great hardship to the people of Achill and other places served by the said line, and further to ask him if he is aware that the railway company proposes to close said line for goods traffic and if he will state whether an application has been made to him to make an Order under the Railways Act, 1933, authorising the railway company to close the said line for goods traffic and, if so, what action he intends to take to have the line kept open for goods traffic and reopened for passenger traffic.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Railway Services in Mayo.
I am not aware that the discontinuance of passenger train services between Westport and Achill has caused great hardship to the people served by that line, as adequate substitute road transport services were provided.
An application has been made to me by the Great Southern Railways Company for an order under Section 9 of the Railways Act, 1933, authorising the discontinuance of merchandise trains on the section referred to and, provided the company are in a position to fulfil the statutory requirements, I am not aware of any grounds on which such an order could logically be refused.
I understand that to facilitate road repair work, the company, at the request of the County Council, has agreed to a temporary reinstatement of passenger train services on the section, and to defer for the present the withdrawal of merchandise train services.
Is the Minister aware that a large number of harvest men and other migrants leave Achill and that, for part of the year, buses have to go to Achill at midnight to bring people into Westport, which they reach at 2 o'clock in the morning, while the railway station does not open until 7.30, with the result that the people have to wait five hours in the town of Westport, and does he consider that that is not a hardship? I wish to ask the Minister, also, if this railway was not constructed out of public funds and if there was not an undertaking by the railway company that they would run a certain number of passenger trains per diem on this line.
The Deputy did not refer in his question to exceptional traffic, such as occurs occasionally when numbers of migratory labourers are leaving the area. Whatever inconvenience may be caused on occasions when there is abnormal traffic of that kind, the substitute service, for all ordinary purposes, is superior to the service previously provided on the railway.
Does the Minister consider that migrants are people of no importance and may be treated in that fashion?
No. My reply referred to the normal service provided. Exceptional services have to be provided on occasions when there is exceptional traffic. The Deputy's question related to the normal service, and my reply related to the normal service. The question as to the facilities made available for certain abnormal traffic is a different matter.
What the Minister calls "abnormal" might be more accurately described as "normal," considering the number of people who go away.
That traffic occurs only at a particular time of the year.
Between going and coming, it lasts for about five months of the year. On what ground does the Minister state that the present service is better than the railway service, considering that nobody in the neighbourhood thinks it is?
It goes further. Whereas the railway ended at Achill Sound, the present service goes much further into the island.