I wish to share time with Deputy Sargent.
Engine breakdown, signal failure, points failure, lack of platform space, leaves on the line, birds in the air, inadequate number of drivers to replace those on sick leave, windows which will not open, lack of extra carriages and the lack of a rail loop line at Howth Junction are only some of the excuses and reasons given by Iarnród Éireann for the disastrous rail service provided for the commuters of Balbriggan, Skerries, Lusk, Rush, Donabate, Portrane, Malahide and Portmarnock in my constituency. Many of these problems have been evident for some time, but in recent weeks the service deteriorated to the point of disaster. I call on the Minister for Public Enterprise to ascertain what immediate works can be carried out to improve the service by the provision of additional carriages and committing to CIE the permission to raise the necessary funds – about £300 million – to create a loop line at Howth Junction, which is blocking extra service.
On 5 November all commuter traffic from north Dublin was directed to divert to Ballymun Road and the Malahide Road and onto public services. That announcement was a sick joke. Even a self-respecting sardine would not try to get on a train coming in from north Dublin. Last week the 8.10 a.m. train, which was already running late, left 50 passengers standing on the platform at Lusk. On another recent evening the DART failed dismally at Malahide. In two trains from Dublin passengers were so tightly jammed, or imprisoned, for two hours that women who fainted or collapsed in the carriages had no room to fall and had to be supported by other passengers. If the Minister for Public Enterprise does not take action on this rail service, she will take the responsibility when a major accident occurs, with serious injury and loss of life.
Ironically, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government has a policy to house people along rail lines, but there is no room on trains. I put it to the Minister for Public Enterprise that people have been duped on the basis of a public transport system which does not accommodate them. I hope she will ensure extra carriages are made available, that platforms are lengthened and a new loop line is built at Howth Junction to increase the service. I am issuing a warning, through the Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise, that I will raise this issue every week, if I have to, until I see some improvements. As a Deputy for Dublin North, I will not preside over the carnage that will occur if the doors on one of these trains burst open at any time due to the overload of passengers intimately pressed shoulder to shoulder and body to body on this appalling daily journey.
