Danny Healy-Rae urges trains, dining car and automated crossing
Danny Healy-Rae asked the minister to provide enough trains and carriages to bring people from Kerry to Dublin for an upcoming match and to ensure return services. He also raised the absence of a dining car on the Tralee-Killarney-Mello service and pressed for an automated crossing at Stagmont, Ratmoor.
He told the minister that supporters from Kerry need sufficient carriages and trains to travel to Dublin next Saturday for a match against Tyrone and to be brought home afterward. He emphasised the route from Tralee through Killarney to Mello and asked that capacity be provided for the anticipated demand.
He complained there is no dining car or trolley on the Tralee-Killarney-Mello train, noting the journey is about three hours and 20 minutes to Dublin. He recalled his father valuing a dining car for breakfast and asked the minister to rectify the current lack of onboard catering.
He said that between Mello and Tralee, Clareney and Tralee, the only non-automated junction is the gates at Stagmont, Ratmoor. He highlighted safety concerns - 14 families, including young women and children, cross the gates several times daily and late at night - and said the community has been asking for an automated crossing for 15 or 16 years.
He noted he has raised the issue before and was told there are 140 similar crossings in the country, but this remains the only non-automated crossing on the Manor to Clareney stretch. He appealed directly to the minister to act and install an automated crossing for Stagmont, Ratmoor.
He closed with a personal recollection of travelling with the minister recently and described a "good sing song" on a memorable trip, underscoring his local connection to the rail service issues.
Request for extra trains to Dublin
He told the minister that supporters from Kerry need sufficient carriages and trains to travel to Dublin next Saturday for a match against Tyrone and to be brought home afterward. He emphasised the route from Tralee through Killarney to Mello and asked that capacity be provided for the anticipated demand.
Dining car and onboard catering
He complained there is no dining car or trolley on the Tralee-Killarney-Mello train, noting the journey is about three hours and 20 minutes to Dublin. He recalled his father valuing a dining car for breakfast and asked the minister to rectify the current lack of onboard catering.
Automated crossing at Stagmont, Ratmoor
He said that between Mello and Tralee, Clareney and Tralee, the only non-automated junction is the gates at Stagmont, Ratmoor. He highlighted safety concerns - 14 families, including young women and children, cross the gates several times daily and late at night - and said the community has been asking for an automated crossing for 15 or 16 years.
Previous representations and local appeal
He noted he has raised the issue before and was told there are 140 similar crossings in the country, but this remains the only non-automated crossing on the Manor to Clareney stretch. He appealed directly to the minister to act and install an automated crossing for Stagmont, Ratmoor.
Personal note on travel
He closed with a personal recollection of travelling with the minister recently and described a "good sing song" on a memorable trip, underscoring his local connection to the rail service issues.
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Transcript
Minister, I'm glad to get the opportunity to ask you here, especially today, to provide enough trains and carriages to bring the people from Kerry up to Dublin next Saturday. We're taking on Tyrone and we need our supporters there. And I'm asking you to ensure that we have enough carriages and enough trains to service the people of Kerry to bring them up and to take them home. And we hope that we'll win the match and we'll be looking for more trains then to come up again. Anyway, Minister, we have the one train service from, operates, of course, different doors of the day, but from Tralee through Killarney and on to Mello. And I have to say, Minister, that we seem to be very forlorn in that way. There isn't even a dining car or a trolley car on that train. We are three hours and 20 minutes away from Dublin. And I remember a time when my father was coming up here and he appreciated a dining car where you could get the breakfast on the train. That's not there or available anymore. Why so, Minister? And I'm asking you to rectify that. And it's not on at all in today's service. And to come all the way to Manor, sometimes then you may get it on the car train if we'll change in Manor. But it's not good enough for the service that we'll get here in a minute. The other thing is, Minister, between Mello and Tralee, Clareney and Tralee, there's only one junction that's not automated. And this is the junction, the gates at Stagmont, Ratmoor. And this, I'm asking now, several times before, Ian Roryan, to provide an automated crossing there. It's the only one. Even though when I put in the PQ, I was told there was 140 of them in the country. But it's the only one in the Manor, in Manor, to Clareney, that's not automated. There are 14 families, young women and children, crossing these gates daily, several times a day, late at night. And we're coming on for the wintertime again. And they have to get out to open the gate and they have to go back and close the gate. They're afraid. They're afraid in this day and age of having to do that. And I'm appealing to you now, and I'm expecting to react to this, to put in an automated crossing for the people of Stagmont, Ratmoor. They're waiting long enough for it. We've been asking for 15 or 16 years for it, Minister. And I'm appealing to you, any time in government, to ensure that this crossing is automated. Stagmont Junction at Ratmoor. Yeah, and I travelled with you on the train recently, and we did a good sing song. It was a very memorable trip.