Laois councillor calls on Irish Rail to put staff in their train stations

Irish Rail has been urged to put staff in their train stations in Laois, to help passengers.

Cllr Tommy Mulligan from Portlaoise Municipal District, made the call in a motion tabled to Laois County Council, with a letter gone with the request to Irish Rail and to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan.

"It surprises me that over the years, whatever station it is, there is a lack of personnel to help with answering queries or directing people to the right platform. There are ticket machines but most of the time there is no assistance.

"Whenever I'm there the counter is closed. The elderly and people with disabilities need help boarding and disembarking," he said.

His motion seeks the council to send a letter to Irish Rail, asking it to have personnel "available and operating throughout the working day to assist and provide information to customers at the train stations in Portlaoise, Portarlington and Ballybrophy".

Cllr James Kelly seconded it.

"I fully support this. You all remember the anti-social behaviour on trains during Covid. Between the Gardaí and Irish Rail they sorted a lot of it. Now we are to have a major announcement by Minister Ryan about major investment in Irish Rail, this could be part of it. We definitely need people there to help people. We should also look at reopening the likes of Kilbricken," he said.

Cllr John King agrees, suggesting that staff could also work as caretakers, or be posted at certain times so passengers could choose when to take the train.

Cllr Aisling Moran noted the reduction in rail services in the past 50 years.

"Now they've completely knocked out villages. Kids can't get accommodation for colleges, they are sleeping on couches because the train or bus times don't matach up," she claimed.