IRISH RAIL USERS taking the train to the south-east for the long weekend won’t be able to buy beer on some services today – or any Friday in future.
Iarnród Éireann is banning the consumption of alcohol on some Friday afternoon trains from Dublin Heuston to Waterford.
The ban comes following complaints from customers about anti-social behaviour from groups on those trains.
“We have had a fairly high number of incidents on this particular route on Fridays with groups – be they stags or hens, or other sets of groups, travelling to the likes of Carlow, Kilkenny or Waterford,” Iarnród Éireann spokesman Barry Kenny told TheJournal.ie.
“It’s just become too frequent,” he said. “Obviously it’s relatively rare, but occasionally on train services people do consume so much alcohol and become a nuisance for other customers.”
While such incidents had been treated as if they were isolated in the past, the train operator said it had now decided to act “for the benefit of other customers”.
As a result, the 13:15 and 15:10 trains from Heuston to Waterford on Fridays – serving towns including Newbridge, Bagnelstown and Kilkenny – will not sell alcohol to customers, and people bringing alcohol on board will not be allowed to consume it.
An alcohol ban had already been in place for some services from the south-east back to Dublin on Sunday afternoons, for similar reasons.
Kenny said there were no plans to abolish alcohol sales on all trains, however, commenting that some people enjoyed the ability to have a quiet drink in moderation if taking the train to other parts of the country.
“As a general principle we don’t like having to put these kinds of restrictions in,” Kenny added.
“Most people, if they have a drink on board – whether it be purchased on the train or brought on board – “do so in moderation and with respect for others,” he said.
Kenny said Iarnród Éireann would continue to extend alcohol bans if antisocial behaviour became problematic on other routes.
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