Anyone for the last of the semi-states?

It reminds me of Croke Park when the hustle is on to sell the last few choc ices. Rather than be left with a soggy mess that was worth nothing the hucksters got more vocal, desperate to flog off the last ice cream.
It may be just April but already there is the hint of action in the air as a state of panic seems to be breaking about price of semi states and as to whether enough of them will be sold to keep the market analysts happy.

A few years ago Colm McCarthy produced his own hit list of public services that should be either ended or sold off so that the state finances would remain stable. If only the destruction of our state by the Greens and FF had ended at that by now we could at least be trying to reconstruct the country, but No.
Colm McCarthy is back this time recommending that €5B can be raised by flogging off the family silver; ESB, An Bord Gais as well as Bertie’s mates in Coilte are lined up while the big land bank belonging to CIE in Dublin Port will attract some speculators. How did we get here? Well lets look at some of the previous privatisations and see what was learnt.

The elephant in the room is the FF practice of packing state boards with directors with interests in property. They’re everywhere that there’s land. The former state owned shipping line Irish Ferries has a share value that exceeds a value you’d expect as the board members who again are property magnates bring their expertise to bear on the potential for asset stripping. Asset stripping is not just a FF core value. The former state owned sugar company’s CEO just happens to be the brother of the Agriculture Minister. Greencore closed its sugar producing arm at the height of the bubble and accepted compensation to morph into a property company. We now know the information used to arrive at the closure decision was wrong but will the company do a U turn and re-enter sugar production? Extremely unlikely.

So what will we do when one of the soon to be privatised companies takes a decision that is not in the countries interest but is most definitely in the interest of the company? As it is there’s at least one semi state board where already that happened anyway and little was done about it. I’m thinking of Irish Rail where Rosslare Harbour has been effectively mothballed by its owner. Rail services disconnected and ended, recently shipping lines seem to have indicated that they will end foot passenger services as the facilities in terms of onward connections have been axed by CIE. All this happened under the previous governments watch.

So whether a company is state owned or privatised seems to matter little to board members who rarely see themselves as having a culture of serving the public. As a result I would shed no tears if Rosslare Harbour was sold out of state ownership provided the new owner was interested in investing to compete with Dublin or Cork and restore rail and bus services. It would matter little to many in Wexford if the directors fees were paid out of the private purse rather than state coffers already depleted by the speculator class. In fact if a private company was committed to the port in the long haul there would be few politicians in Wexford who would shed tears for Irish Rail such is the poor level of service and investment.

The train now departing from platform 9 ¾.

It brought a wry smile to my face. I almost broke into a chorus of “We’ll meet again” last Wednesday at the station. Fianna Fail and Greens united on the ground in the south east to oppose rail closures while their colleagues in power did everything to see the line shut. And be cetain that we will meet again. Its gut wrenching to watch the Greens and FF turn up to be filmed by RTE when baring FF’s Tony Dempsey they did nothing about stopping Dempsey and Cuffe. Irish Rail brought forward their opening of the Dunboyne link to coincide with the announced withdrawal of service between Rosslare and Waterford in another spoiler move of theirs. Dan Boyle’s fleeting appearance on the rail protest brought a sense of celebrity to the campaign but nothing else.theirs!

I’ve always been cynical about the Greens but not even I could have thought that they’d stoop this low. On the night of the first protest meeting in Wellington Bridge a Waterford Green assured me that Minister Cuffe would contact me to discuss the matter. I sent him the 2003 report on the line, the rebuttal of costings sent to him by Irish Rail. Did he contact me?
When the Irish Times came looking for him to comment he took his cue from the old Dr Hook song, “Sylvia’s Mother”, he was too busy to come to the phone! One local green councillor was busy spoofing “With Ciaran Cuffe in place as Minister for Sustainable Transport, we have an open ear. We need however to make our own strong case. We need to make sure that we, together with Irish Rail, market this line properly, in order to give it a chance. There is a bit of momentum gathering here and that's good. But don't stop here, so please tell your friends” All of this was done but to no avail.


The Greens aren’t interested in Co Wexford while Fianna Fail are only interseted in bailing out developers. So long as Fianna Fail will tolerate minority middle class issues they’ll indulge Gormley and his party. So long as the Greens can ignore the rest of the country, FF get on with bailing out their supporters and they’ll throw the kitchen at it!
So right now the spin is that the line will close, not so! In fact Irish Rail must provide and maintain the line so that if another operator wishes to utilise the line they will have access and that the NTA will support the Rail Partnership model and the Southern & Eastern Regional Authority in their work to develop links. So in effect the ball is in our court, Irish Rail, the Greens and FF are off the pitch. Let us who live in the area now plan how best to deliver what is in the interest of thise who live here.

I told you so!

I’m not hugely surprised by the publication of the SERA report into the Limerick Rosslare rail line. There’s nothing in it that I never suspected or said. The report is an indictment of the centralised ethos that pervades Iarnród Éireann. It might have been acceptable in Todd Andrews day to tell a demoralised people that the local line was shutting just as nowadays its acceptable to spoof that while there is no money to re-open a line it’ll be alright in 2015. But its not acceptable any longer to threat communities as though they’ve no right to consultation and after enduring years of being ignored on how their service was provided to say as Irish Rail did last April, it’s the local authorities fault, the area has too few people and we’ve tried our best.
This report bins that spin.

What the Save the Rail group always said is backed up to the hilt! Link Waterford and Wexford, run more trains, draw in community support for the line, integrate the timetable to boats, buses and other rail services. They estimate that more than 600 passengers could use this train each day if that is done. That’s more than the Western Rail Corridor was projected to carry. And all of that can be done for very little as the line is still up and running.


They report says that the Irish Rail case to close contains a number of “critical aspects which are flawed”. It singles out the Strategic Rail Review recommendation that no investment should be undertaken at the expense of priority investment and that economic evaluation does not support investment in the Rosslare Limerick line. As I’ve pointed out there is EU funding available to upgrade the line as it leads to a TEN. Clearly there is no interest in IE or in the Government in accessing this cash.

The report agrees with my view that the real origin of the line is Wexford and if you count the population within in 10 Km of the line there is 125,000 within reach of this lightly used line. But what is astonishing is that IE have been running the train in the wrong direction! For years the number of people commuting into Wexford is 3 times that of the number commuting from the same parishes into Waterford! Is it any owned it was lightly used? Doh!


The report focuses on the actual definition of what economic actually means. It points out that increasing frequency can increase patronage. The opposite is true as well, can you believe that the letters C,I & E are found in the word “economic”? Irish Rail’s neglect of Sail Rail is now effectively an international embarrassment as the UK Department of Transport and Stena both unprompted commented to the reporters on their failure to provide rail connections out of Rosslare Europort. Irish Rails business case for closure is based on data that ignores any other market than those going to work in Waterford.
Irish Rail has been exposed in this report for poor analysis of the regions needs. I’ve arrived at the conclusion that they don’t deserve the line any more. Its time that they were told that the line will be open to competition and that if another operator wants to provide a service in addition or instead of them then they don’t need to hang around any longer if they don’t want to. As they say in Rosslare Harbour its time for them to shape up or ship out!

Irish Rail shows rail services the door.

Well so much for consultation! It seems that the suits in Connolly have had their fill. Poor old Jim must spin in his grave at the thought of his name being associated with an arrogant and high handed management. To put it in one sentence the boys ain’t going to share their train set with anyone; not the Oireachtas members but most of all the people in the south east.
Today’s papers carry notice of intention to close the rail line between Rosslare Strand and Waterford. In a way it’s clearly an attempt to deflect from their current denous with the Oireachtas committee who want to ask them a few embarrassing questions. Lets recap how we got here. In March Irish Rail applied for permission to close the line in secret to the NTA. In April the company told the Oireachtas Transport Committee and residents in Wexford. As the opposition to the closure built up and submissions were made and points rebutted the Southern and Eastern Regional Authority stepped in.

SERA sought tenders for a socio economic report on the future of the line from Limerick Junction to Rosslare Harbour. The NTA agreed to withhold a decision on the matter until the report was submitted. So as to expedite the process in the interests of Irish Rail the timescale of mid July was agreed by both bodies for an initial report and additional information within the following week. Arising from that the NTA would issue a decision.
Once more Irish Rail have move to undermine the process, just as they did by releasing the news of closure to turn people away from the first public meeting. They’ve issued notice of closure in accordance with the 1958 Transport Act. That means that in 2 months time regardless of what anyone else says the line will close. Minister Dempsey says that he wants to move the rolling stock elsewhere and it was about resources. The company on the other hand say it’s about money that they haven’t got. Just as the company marginalised campaigners against closure, they’ve undermined SERA and the NTA. There’s only so many that you can do that to and get away with it every time. The hypocrisy of the companies claim about concern at increased emissions is exposed by the reality that they will now deploy 4 buses to bring 25 passengers and none of them will go via Bridgetown, Wellington Bridge or Ballycullane to get students into WIT for lectures.
In reality it’s about having no interest in anything other than large urban areas, no imagination for developing services and no time for freight and Co Wexford. There is still a long way to go on this one. Irish Rail will have to give notice of intention to close to other EU carriers who will have the right to apply to commence services in Ireland. EU rules are interpreted in Ireland for the benefit of Iarnród Éireann and not the benefit of a developing rail industry. While we’re moving less by rail in terms of passengers and especially freight other countries are seeing freight returning to rail.

And what about the politics of all of this? For the Greens who aspire to a public transport policy? Minister Ciaran Cuffe said he’d support retention where a socio economic argument was made? Minister Dempsey by all accounts of the Wexford TD’s meeting was badly informed about the line but cared little. Will pressure grow on the 2 ministers or will they just attempt to spin a line that small populations of about 100,000 between Wexford and Waterford are not viable for a line. I bet they wouldn’t tell Jackie Healy Rae that!
If the Minster was half the idealist his spinsters like to tell us he is he’d haul in the chairman, sack him dismiss the board and tell the executives to either find ways to build up the line or find another job.

Irish Rail's scenic journey to closure; not there yet!

It’s days like today that give you a boost in a long campaign. First I got a call to say that Conor Cullen ahd doen a fine piece about the facebook page and asked a few hard questions of Irish Rail. Then I got the shock of my life at lunch time when I took a call from Eleanor McEvoy’s partner Mick to ask me had I seen the Wexford Echo. I’d spent all day in class so other than a 10 minute tea break I’d seen plenty of homework but no newspaper. When I did my jaw dropped! Eleanor is supportive of our campaign as she and Mick live near the line in the south of the county. I remember her album Yola which drew it inspiration from the locality from a few years back. What I didn’t recall was that the front cover picture was taken on the platform at Bridgetown station. I won’t forget it now as the picture is spread across a half page in all the Echo newspapers with the title “Isn't it a little? ” The ad is a novel way of promoting both the facebook campaign and Eleanor. It will I’m sure bring welcome attention to both in the media. The campaign is now at a crucial stage. Irish Rail thought by now that the line would be closed. The end of April was the date that union sources had advised workers they’d be finished. It seems now that when it comes to closing the line, the company is not quite there to quote their ad campaign but claim to be getting there! In fact they're not going at 90 MPH but at speeds more sedate that most of their passengers are now used to! But of course that doesn't stop Irish Rail from playing head games with their workers as one was recently told that they wouldn’t be back after leave was taken. I’ve never met an organisation that has such a high handed attitude to their workers. It’s like something out of the middle ages where feudal barons treated their serfs like slaves. Before the Wellington Bridge meeting one Irish Rail official whose name I know approached company employees and warned them not to speak out against the company. One who did subsequently received a warning letter! The HSE wouldn’t try this with their employees if there was a meeting over Wexford Hospital.

What Irish Rail should ponder is why there aren’t too many feudal barons left nowadays and if they were smart they’d wake up to the 21st century and face a few facts like they never really understood their market here, they never promoted the service and they cannibalised the timetable here just like they did elsewhere. The last line they closed 20 years ago ran between Athlone and Mullingar. To close that first they closed a perfect station in Athlone and built a new station where the Mullingar line was awkward to access. Next they ran trains when nobody wanted them, reducing the service to one a day each way (Arrive Moate at 11.30 PM), who would in their right mind want to go to Moate at midnight? I kid you not! Eventually the line had service suspended even though it linked 2 key towns in the region. Now where does that remind you of? 25 years on their modus operandi is the same.

I don’t have much n common with Michael O’Leary but one thing he always maintained was that the Department of Transport was the downtown office of Aer Lingus. He may have a point as I think the rail section in transport is definitely the downtown office of Irish Rail! If it was left to Minister Dempsey, I think the track would already be rusting and tumbleweed blowing across Rosslare Europort. From here on every extra day that the train runs is a bonus in my book. Management have undermined it with an unviable service, the minister and shareholder backs them up in this act of vandalism and the county bleeds. The sooner Minister Dempsey is sent packing the better. At least Labour in power would make the trains run! Perhaps Eleanors “Isn’t it a little?” could be the campaign song for the Labour General Election campaign!

Protests at Wexford Railway station

I was asked what I was doing by a councillor today outside O’Hanrahan Railway station in Wexford today as I stood with a placard on my shoulder. I explained that I was taking my placard for a walk! It was a beautiful Spring day in the south east, typically sunny.
So as we set off picketing we got support, waves and beeps of horns from well-wishers. The mood of the protest was humorous as we blew our train whistle and chanted, Rail against Closure! Save Our Train!
When the train came in we went to the side wall and blew and cheered until it was ready to depart. Then we stopped blowing as the guard waved his green flag and off they went. Over 30 people attended and that was good for a start. Next Tuesday we’re off to Bridgetown to protest as the evening train arrives.

I joked to a woman that with school restarting a good project for a few students in woodwork would be a coffin painted in the IE corporate colours for when we eventually take our protest to Waterford! Or maybe it wasn’t a joke?

Senator Dan and the Battle of Wellington Bridge!

You know in Irish politics when you’re making headway, it’s when Green Party Senator Dan Boyle tweets. And so it was last night as the good people of Co Wexford gathered in Wellington Bridge to discuss what has been a dramatic 24 hours that our plight was tweeted by the Deputy Leader of the Seanad.
In reality we need more than a tweet to get us out of this mess and to be fair the people of Wexford came up with plenty of questions for Irish Rail management last night and got precious few answers from a poorly prepared Iarnrod Eireann team. Many of the questions that were raised from the floor were not answered and that’s just the ones from the deputies. Of the seven I put just one was partly answered. Closure is imminent, the company will apply to the NTA for permission to end service. The head picture was taken as the Irish Rail representative was speaking and you can gauge the response of the 3 politicians to his attempted answers.

The contract between the NTA and the company was only signed 4 months ago. It makes no mention that the contract allows for termination of service merely change of service. I pointed out to the company that the NTA will receive objections from local authorities in the run in to their decision. I’ve already a motion down on the matter for Monday nights meeting of Wexford Borough Council and if its passed as would be likely, they will have one objection by Tuesday.
The NTA approach is an attempt to by-pass a government decision on the matter as it would mean rowing back on policy initiated by Seamus Brennan in 2001 that there would be no more line closures. So effectively there would be a de facto policy of closure through the back door while the official policy of no contraction of the passenger network still is in place. An Irish Rail solution to an Irish Rail problem!


Last night saw a wonderful turn out despite the Irish Rail dirty tricks. Let me explain what the company did. At 3.15 yesterday the Irish Times website carried a report that the company had decided to axe the route. That decision was made at a board meeting yesterday morning. The management then despatched 3 senior managers to Wellington Bridge to attend a public meeting where they were going to announce the closure. Before tea-time the CIE chairman announced the closure to the Oireachtas Transport Committee, about an hour after South East Radio relayed the news to workers and a shocked public. Last night I listened to one person tell that they had lost their jobs on the radio. By 7 the union had texted to say they would be finishing up in 3 weeks.
It was a deliberate and calculated attempt to undermine the meeting and present us with a fait accompli. It will backfire. It will galvanise the community especially in the light of the inability of management to answer questions at last nights meeting. The questions I want to know are
What will happen to services south of Wexford Town?
What is the status of the Fishguard & Rosslare Harbour Railway Company?
Why was the timetable altered in 2009 to remove connections to the boat at Rosslare?
Why was the commuter service between Wexford and Waterford not developed?
Why is the timetable being dismantled to prevent through journeys?
What is the source of funding to the WRC in the light of the 2009 requirement to run that service profitably?
In the meantime my intray is clogging up as people sign on the facebook petition. Irish Rail last night were long on obfuscation last night but short on specifics.

End of the line for Rosslare Waterford Rail service

Cynics say that you know when a rail line is set for closure because the station gets a new lick of paint. Naturally my concerns grew when I went to Rosslare Strand to see the Waterford platform was painted and resurfaced that there was something a foot. The line serves Wellington Bridge and connects a rural hinterland to Waterford. Many of these small villages have lost their bus service last year and now will see their rail service go. As recently as 1995 there were 3 return trains to Waterford.
Fair play to Brendan Howlin, he flushed Irish Rail out. I’ve seen the correspondence from Irish Rail. They are seeking to put an alternative in placed for their passengers and are offering workers either a severance package or a transfer. The letter to Deputy Howlin is signed by a senior manager in Irish Rail. The fate of the line that links Wexford to Waterford, Cork, Limerick & Galway is sealed. After over 100 years the line will close.
I’ve blogged this matter before, I’ve explained how management blew €30K on taxi fares because they timetabled a Waterford crew to take the train to Rosslare after the last bus returned to Waterford. A Wexford crew was a possibility. I’ve also said how they never promoted the line despite fares being less than Bus Eireann. The timetable was altered making it awkward for passengers to sprint to Plunket Station for the train home.

I’ve written to the Transport Minister as well as the 2 greens who passed the book to Irish Rail. The greens are ostensibly a party of public transport and it is to their shame that they never lifted a finger to stop Irish Rail management. Not so much as a tweet out of Senator Dan Boyle. FF have no policy other than nationally saying one thing while Sean Connick TD touted by some as a possible Minister saying something else. If he’s appointed a Minister will he reverse this decision?

McCarthy called for the lines closure and now we’re starting to see McCarthy by stealth. Despite the fact that the train in to Waterford has a loyal passenger base each morning and is always at least half full and was reliable rail passengers from Wexford will now be faced with gridlock on the Ferrybank dual carriageway in order to get to work. I’ve travelled on that line twice in the 18 months. I’ve seen its potential. So too has RTE’s “Nationwide” which reported positively 4 weeks on the route. Run trains from Wexford to Limerick Junction. Allow connections to the Western Rail Corridor. Where’s the vision with Irish Rail?
Instead over time the line will deteriorate, sleepers will rot and ultimately it will be impossible to re-open a service along the line. Brendan Howlin will raise the matter on the adjournment on Tuesday night in Dail Eireann. Lets see what the Minister says in response.