Irish Rail catering service remains suspended for ‘extended period of time’

Irish Rail have issued an “unfortunate” update on its catering service.

On-board catering was suspended when the pandemic began and food and drink have not been served on Irish Rail trains since.

A return of the service doesn’t appear to be on the horizon, with the company revealing that finding staff is “challenging”.

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Speaking on Newstalk’s The Hard Shoulder, Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny said it could be a “potentially extended period of time” before catering returns.

He said: “It’s proving challenging. I think anybody who is in the catering and hospitality industry would know about the issues of staffing.

“This is a company where, obviously, the vast majority of its staff went elsewhere during a two-year period when there was no work, so I don’t have a date in terms of it being restored.

“We’re engaging with them but the unfortunate thing is we are looking at a potentially extended period of time where we won’t have on-board catering.”

Mr Kenny said they are working on renewing a contract and hopes to be able to confirm a date for the return of catering “reasonably quickly”.

He said: “But you know, we all love to grab the tea or the coffee and the snack on board and we know that convenience is something the customers want so we will work to get it back as quickly as we can, but I don’t want to overpromise here, it is going to be a bit of a gap.”

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