The new CEO of Iarnród Éireann, Mary Considine
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Breakfast Business with Enterprise Ireland on Newstalk. Good morning and welcome to Breakfast Business with me, Tom McEnany, standing in for Joe Lynham. Coming up, we'll ask DCU's Professor of Economics, Edgar Morganroth, what will happen if, as seems likely, the US Supreme Court rules that President Donald Trump's tariffs are illegal. And we'll be joined by Kate English of Deloitte for a look at the markets and to look at what's making the headlines on the business pages. But first, we're joined by Mary Constadine.
Who is Mary Considine and what is her background?
Mary is CEO of Inroad Airin. She's just been appointed. She's come from Shannon Airport Group, where she was also CEO. Good morning, Mary. Good morning, Tom. Mary, what's it like moving from aviation to rail?
Yes, as he said there, I had the privilege of leading a great team of people in Shannon Airport to reposition it as a vital gateway for the country. And now I have the opportunity to join Eireann with Eireann and lead the team there at a really exciting time for rail. And I suppose, Tom, there is huge alignment between the roles. It's about moving people and goods. So we're seeing... Record growth in Irish Rail at the moment, carrying over a million passengers a week. A really exciting time because the team there are not only dealing with today's railway, but building out significant capacity for tomorrow. So a really exciting time. So delighted to be joining.
And there's a huge number of projects going on at Irish Rail. Do you want to give us a whistle stop tour? I mean, for a start, you're replacing all the stock on the Dublin Belfast line.
As you say, we're about to place a contract to replace the enterprise fleet there. So that's very exciting. There's a huge programme underway to what we call DART Plus, and that's bringing new capacity into the DART around Dublin Airport, the Greater Dublin region. So what that will do will double the capacity there and triple the electrification of the Greater Dublin Rail Network. Really big project happening in the Cork area.
Where is it at now or what are we looking at there?
Well, what we're looking at is bringing in 185 new carriages there and we'll start to see those coming into service in summer 27. So that should replace some of the existing fleet. And importantly, what that will do will be free up some of the fleet that's currently operating there to move it around the country. Because you'll hear, you know, Tom, from customers, that we are operating at certain times at peak capacity at the moment. And you can't just switch on that tap overnight to introduce new capacity. So the introduction of the new fleet in the Dart area will allow some fleet to be dispersed around the country. So a big project happening in Cork to... triple the amount of capacity there, the amount of trains that they'll be able to operate.
We're seeing development in Limerick. The new Moy Ross station is in planning. The Fines line, and that's initially for freight, is under construction. We have a temporary platform going into Adair ahead of the Ryder Cup. In Galway, there's really exciting work on there to revamp Kent Station. So there's a huge development. Anyone that's been in Galway recently will see the redevelopment at that station there. And hopefully we will see in time, subject to funding and the support of government, the reopening of the Western Rail corridor. And I'm here in Rosslea Airport this morning because we're here with the OPW for the opening of T7. in Ross Lair, Europort and enabling work. So a real transformation here.
What challenges does Mary face transitioning from aviation to rail?
So there's huge work happening right around the rail network.
So you're opening up a new OPW customs control facility. What is that?
That's correct. What that is, it's a new entry and exit points for freight and passengers coming into the country. So the OPW have today worked with the agencies, state agencies, including the Revenue Commissioners, Immigration, customs, agriculture, the Department of the Marines. So they have new facilities opening up here in Ross Air this morning. And there's also significant enabling works being done to future proof the port.
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