Transport in Ireland

Most of the transport system in Ireland is in public hands, either side of the Irish border. The Irish road network has evolved separately in the two jurisdictions into which Ireland is divided, while the Irish rail network was mostly created prior to the partition of Ireland.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Minister for Transport, acting through the Department of Transport, is responsible for the state's road network, rail network, public transport, airports and several other areas. Although some sections of road have been built using private or public-private funds, and are operated as toll roads, they are owned by the Government of Ireland. The rail network is also state-owned and operated, while the government currently still owns the main airports. Public transport is mainly in the hands of a statutory corporation, Córas Iompair Éireann (CIÉ), and its subsidiaries, Bus Átha Cliath (Dublin Bus), Bus Éireann (Irish Bus), and Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail).

On 1 November 2005, the Irish government published the Transport 21 plan which includes €18bn for improved roads and €16bn for improved rail, including the Western Railway Corridor and the Dublin Metro.

The Republic of Ireland's transport sector is responsible for 21% of the state's greenhouse gas emissions.[1]

In Northern Ireland, the road network and railways are in state ownership. The Department for Infrastructure is responsible for these and other areas (such as water services). Two of the three main airports in Northern Ireland are privately operated and owned. The exception is City of Derry Airport, which is owned and funded by Derry City Council. A statutory corporation, the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company (which trades as Translink) operates public transport services through its three subsidiaries – NI Railways Company Limited, Ulsterbus Limited, and Citybus Limited (now branded as Metro).

Railways
Main articles: Rail transport in Ireland and History of rail transport in Ireland
Total
Ireland's rail network
1,600 mm (5 ft 3 in) broad gauge
1,947 km (1,210 mi) (1998); 38 km (24 mi) electrified; 485 km (301 mi) double track; some additions and removals since 1997
1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
36.5 km (22.7 mi) (2004) (Luas tramway); 36.5 km (22.7 mi) electrified; 36.5 km (22.7 mi) double track; additional track under construction
914 mm (3 ft) narrow gauge
1,365 km (848 mi) (2006) (industrial railway operated by Bord na Móna)

Ireland's railways are in State ownership, with Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) operating services in the Republic and NI Railways operating services in Northern Ireland. The two companies co-operate in providing the joint Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast. InterCity services are provided between Dublin and the major towns and cities of the Republic, and in Ulster along the Belfast–Derry railway line. Suburban railway networks operate in Dublin, Dublin Suburban Rail, and Belfast, Belfast Suburban Rail, with limited local services being offered in, or planned for, Cork, Limerick, and Galway.

The rail network in Ireland was developed by various private companies during the 19th century, with some receiving government funding. The network reached its greatest extent by 1920. A broad gauge of 1600mm (5 ft 3in)[2] was agreed as the standard for the island, although there were also hundreds of kilometres of 914mm (3 ft) narrow gauge railways.[2]

Many lines in the west were decommissioned in the 1930s under Éamon de Valera, with a further large cull in services by both CIÉ and the Ulster Transport Authority (UTA) during the 1960s, leaving few working lines in the northern third of the island. There is a campaign to bring some closed lines back into service, in particular the Limerick-Sligo line (the Western Railway Corridor), to facilitate economic regeneration in the west, which has lagged behind the rest of the country. There is also a move to restore service on the Dublin to Navan line, and smaller campaigns to re-establish the rail links between Sligo and Enniskillen/Omagh/Derry and Mullingar and Athlone/Galway. Under the Irish government's Transport 21 plan, the Cork to Midleton rail link was reopened in 2009. The re-opening of the Navan-Clonsilla rail link and the Western Rail Corridor are amongst future projects as part of the same plan.[3]

Public transport services in Northern Ireland are sparse in comparison with those of the rest of Ireland or Great Britain. A large railway network was severely curtailed in the 1950s and 1960s.[4] Current services includes suburban routes to Larne, Newry and Bangor, as well as services to Derry. There is also a branch from Coleraine to Portrush.[5]

Since 1984 an electrified train service run by Iarnród Éireann has linked Dublin with its coastal suburbs. Running initially between Bray and Howth, the Dublin Area Rapid Transit (DART) system was extended from Bray to Greystones in 2000 and further extended from Howth Junction to Malahide. In 2004 a light rail system, Luas, was opened in Dublin serving the central and western suburbs, run by Veolia under franchise from the Railway Procurement Agency. The construction of the Luas system caused much disruption in Dublin. Plans to construct a Dublin Metro service including underground lines were mooted in 2001, but stalled in the financial crisis at the end of that decade.

Ireland has one of the largest dedicated freight railways in Europe, operated by Bord na Móna totalling nearly 1,400 kilometres (870 mi).[6]

Road transport
Main article: Roads in Ireland
Ireland. Motorways shown in blue, primary roads (N, A) shown in green.
(OpenStreetMap mapping)

Roads and cars in Ireland
Total – 117,318 km (72,898 mi)
South: 92,500 km (57,500 mi) including 1,015 km (631 mi) of motorway (2010)
North: 24,818 km (15,421 mi) including 148 km (92 mi) of motorway (2008)
paved – 87,043 km (54,086 mi), unpaved – 5,457 km (3,391 mi)

Ireland's roads link Dublin with all the major cities (Belfast, Cork, Limerick, Derry, Galway, and Waterford). Driving is on the left. Signposts in the Republic of Ireland are shown in kilometres and speed limits in kilometres per hour. Distance and speed limit signs in Northern Ireland use imperial units in common with the rest of the United Kingdom.

Historically, land owners developed most roads and later turnpike trusts collected tolls so that as early as 1800 Ireland had a 16,100 kilometres (10,000 mi) road network.[7] In 2005 the Irish Government launched Transport 21, a plan envisaging the investment of €34 billion in transport infrastructure from 2006 until 2015.[8] Several road projects were progressed but the economic crisis that began in 2008–09 has prevented its full implementation.

Between 2011 and 2015, diesel cars constituted 70% of new cars.[9] In 2015, 27 new cars per 1,000 inhabitants were registered in Ireland, the same as the EU average.[10]

Bus services

Ireland's first mail coach services were contracted with the government by John Anderson with William Bourne in 1791 who also paid to improve the condition of the roads.[11] The system of mail coaches, carriages and "bians" was further developed by Charles Bianconi, based in Clonmel, from 1815 as a fore-runner of the modern Irish public transportation system.[12]

Part of a fleet of 90 new double decker buses introduced to Dublin in 2015

State-owned Bus Éireann (Irish Bus) currently provides most bus services in the Republic of Ireland, outside Dublin, including an express coach network connecting most cities in Ireland, along with local bus services in the provincial cities. Bus Átha Cliath (Dublin Bus), a sister company of Bus Éireann, provides most of the bus services in Dublin, with some other operators providing a number of routes. These include Aircoach, a subsidiary of FirstGroup which provides services to Dublin Airport from Dublin city centre, South Dublin City, Greystones and Bray. They also operate two intercity express non-stop services service between Dublin Airport, Dublin City Centre, and Cork and also a non-stop route between Belfast City Centre, Dublin Airport and Dublin City. Other operators such as Irish Citylink and GoBus.ie compete on the Dublin-Galway route. Matthews Coaches run a direct service from Bettystown, Laytown and Julianstown to Dublin whilst Dublin Coach operate services to Portlaoise and Limerick. JJ Kavanagh and Sons also operates regular services on the Portlaoise/Limerick route as well as offering services to Waterford, Carlow, Kilkenny, Clonmel and a selection of regional towns and villages in the south.

TFI Local Link is a set of not-for-profit operators, funded via the National Transport Authority, that provide bus services in rural Ireland. Other private rural operators exist, such as Halpenny's in Blackrock, County Louth, which was the first private bus operator to run a public service in Ireland, Bus Feda (Feda O'Donnell Coaches), which operates twice daily routes from Ranafast, County Donegal to Galway and back.[13]

In Northern Ireland Ulsterbus provides the bus network, with its sister company Metro providing services in Belfast. Both are part of state-owned Translink. Tiger Coaches operates a very late night bus service on Friday and Saturday nights between Belfast and Lisburn.[14]

Private hire companies offer groups travelling throughout Ireland with options ranging from cars to 56 passenger coaches. Private Coach Hire Companies can be found at CTTC.ie.

Cross-border services (e.g. Dublin city centre to Belfast) are run primarily by a partnership of Ulsterbus and Bus Éireann with some services run across the border exclusively by one of the two companies (e.g. Derry–Sligo run by Bus Éireann). Aircoach, a private operator, does however operate a competing Dublin to Belfast Express service via Dublin Airport.

According to an Irish Times article in September 2022, 14.3% of national journeys in the Republic of Ireland were undertaken by bus, compared to the European average of 8.8%. However, this may be partly due to the lack of widespread train coverage in the country, as Ireland’s figure of 3.1% usage of trains for journeys is well behind the European average of 7.9%.[15]

Mode of travel[16] 201220132014
Private car – driver 70.4%69.0%69.1%
Private car – passenger 06.1%05.8%05.3%
Walk 13.6%15.4%14.8%
Bus 03.9%03.8%04.4%
Cycle 01.2%01.3%01.6%
Rail / DART / Luas 01.3%01.5%01.4%
Taxi / hackney 00.8%00.9%00.9%
Lorry / motorcycle / other 02.7%02.5%02.5%

Waterways
Main articles: List of canals in Ireland and Rivers of Ireland
Total (2004) – 753 km (468 mi)
(pleasure craft only on inland waterways, several lengthy estuarine waterways)

Pipelines

Natural gas transmission network 1,795 km (1,115 mi) (2003). There is a much more extensive distribution network.

Ports and harbours
Main article: List of ports in Ireland

Ireland has major ports in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Rosslare, Derry and Waterford. Smaller ports exist in Arklow, Ballina, Drogheda, Dundalk, Dún Laoghaire, Foynes, Galway, Larne, Limerick, New Ross, Sligo, Warrenpoint and Wicklow.

Ports in the Republic of Ireland handled 2.8 million travellers crossing the sea between Ireland and Great Britain in 2014, a decrease of 1 million passengers movements since 2003.[17] This has been steadily dropping for a number of years (20% since 1999), probably as a result of low cost airlines.

Ferries

Ferry connections between Britain and Ireland via the Irish Sea include the routes from Fishguard and Pembroke to Rosslare, and Cairnryan to Larne. The Stranraer to Belfast and Larne routes and the Swansea to Cork route have closed. There is also a connection between Liverpool and Belfast via the Isle of Man. The world's largest car ferry, Ulysses, is operated by Irish Ferries on the Dublin–Holyhead route.

In addition, there are ferries from Rosslare and Dublin to Cherbourg and Roscoff in France.

The vast majority of heavy goods trade is done by sea. Northern Irish ports handle 10 megatonnes (Mt) of goods trade with Britain annually, while ports in the south handle 7.6 Mt, representing 50% and 40% respectively of total trade by weight.

Ferry services from Ireland
Name From To Operator Website Seasonal? Type
Scenic Lough Foyle Ferry Greencastle, County Donegal Magilligan Point, County Londonderry Frazer Foyle Holdings loughfoyleferry.com Summer only Passenger (foot, vehicle)
Kintyre Express Ballycastle Port Ellen, Scotland Craig of Campbeltown kintyreexpress.com Summer only Passenger (foot only)
Rathlin Island Ferry Ballycastle Rathlin Island Dunaverty www.rathlin-ferry.com All year Passenger (foot, vehicle)
Kintyre Express Ballycastle Campbeltown, Scotland Craig of Campbeltown kintyreexpress.com Summer only Passenger (foot only)
P&O Larne - Cairnryan Larne Cairnryan, Scotland P&O www.poferries.com All year Passenger (foot, vehicle); Freight
Stena Belfast - Cairnryan Belfast Cairnryan, Scotland Stena Line www.stenaline.co.uk All year Passenger (foot, vehicle); Freight
Isle of Man Steam Packet Belfast Douglas, Isle of Man Isle of Man Steam Packet Company www.steam-packet.com All year Passenger (foot, vehicle)
Stena Belfast - Heysham Belfast Heysham, England Stena Line www.stenaline.com All year Freight
Stena Belfast - Liverpool Belfast Liverpool, England Stena Line www.stenaline.co.uk All year Passenger (foot, vehicle); Freight
Strangford Ferry Strangford Portaferry Dept for Infrastructure NI www.nidirect.gov.uk All year Passenger (vehicle, foot)
Omeath Ferry Warrenpoint, Omeath, County Louth Summer only Passenger (foot)
Carlingford Lough Ferry Greencastle, County Down Greenore, County Louth Rooskey Frazer & Co carlingfordferry.com All year Passenger (vehicle, foot)
Seatruck Warrenpoint Heysham Seatruck www.seatruckferries.com/r All year Freight

Mercantile Marine[note 1]
Total – 35 ships (with a volume of 1,000 gross tonnage (GT) or over) totalling 288,401 GT/383,628 tonnes deadweight (DWT)
Ships by type – bulk carrier 7, cargo ship 22, chemical tanker 1, container ship 3, roll-on/roll-off ship 1, short-sea passenger 1
Foreign-owned – Germany 3, Italy 7, Norway 2
Registered in other countries – 18 (2003 est.)

Aviation
Main article: List of airports in the Republic of Ireland
Irish Airports

Ireland has five main international airports: Dublin Airport, Belfast International Airport (Aldergrove), Cork Airport, Shannon Airport and Ireland West Airport (Knock). Dublin Airport is the busiest of these carrying almost 28 million passengers per year;[18] a second terminal (T2) was opened in November 2010.[19] All provide services to Great Britain and continental Europe, while Cork, Dublin and Shannon also offer transatlantic services. The London to Dublin air route is the ninth busiest international air route in the world, and also the busiest international air route in Europe, with 14,500 flights between the two in 2017.[20][21] In 2015, 4.5 million people took the route, at that time, the world's second-busiest.[20] Aer Lingus is the flag carrier of Ireland, although Ryanair is the country's largest airline. Ryanair is Europe's largest low-cost carrier,[22] the second largest in terms of passenger numbers, and the world's largest in terms of international passenger numbers.[23] For several decades until 2007 Shannon was a mandatory stopover for transatlantic routes to the United States.[24] In recent years it has opened a pre-screening service allowing passengers to pass through US immigration services before departing from Ireland.

There are also several smaller regional airports: George Best Belfast City Airport, City of Derry Airport, Galway Airport, Kerry Airport (Farranfore), Sligo Airport (Strandhill), Waterford Airport and Donegal Airport (Carrickfinn). Scheduled services from these regional points are in the main limited to flights travelling to other parts of Ireland and to Great Britain. Airlines based in Ireland include Aer Lingus (the former national airline of the Republic of Ireland), Ryanair, Aer Arann and CityJet. Services to the Aran Islands are operated from Aerfort na Minna (Connemara Regional Airport).

Ireland's national airline, Aer Lingus, provides services from Belfast City, Cork, Dublin and Shannon to Europe, North Africa and North America. Dublin and Cork airports are run by a State body, DAA (Dublin Airport Authority). Other Irish airlines are Ryanair, one of the largest in the world, CityJet, ASL Airlines Ireland and the Aer Lingus subsidiary Aer Lingus Regional. A number of other operators specialise in general aviation.

Airport passenger numbers

For 2018 the passenger numbers were as follows:[25][26]

RankAirportRunwaysMax LengthPassengersChange
2015–2016
1Dublin 22,637 m (8,652 ft) 31,319,419Increase 6.3%
2Belfast International 22,780 m (9,120 ft) 6,268,960Increase 7.4%
3Belfast City 11,829 m (6,001 ft) 2,511,261Decrease 1.9%
4Cork 22,133 m (6,998 ft) 2,387,806Increase 3.8%
5Shannon 13,199 m (10,495 ft) 1,677,611Increase 4.9%
6Ireland West Airport 12,340 m (7,680 ft) 775,063Increase 3.5%
7Kerry 12,000 m (6,600 ft) 365,339Increase 8.9%
8City of Derry 11,969 m (6,460 ft) 185,843Decrease 4.2%
9Donegal 11,496 m (4,908 ft) 46,537Increase 0.0%
10Connemara 1600 m (2,000 ft) 15,322Decrease 6.8%
11Inishmore 1490 m (1,610 ft) 8,814Decrease 5.6%

Gateway Irish Urban Reference Destination Distances
Midlands Gateway Urban Destination Distances
  • The distances given below are in kilometres as travelling through the Midlands Gateway ATM (Athlone-Tullamore-Mullingar).
  • Where it is logical to travel along the east or west coast directly, these distances are provided according to the popular route.
  • Urban by-passes, Rockades, Diversions, Detours and all other dispositives prolonging the travelled distances between destinations are equated to ZERO.
This is an estimation distance guide only.
City / Town
123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233
Athboy
80Athlone
188241Ballymena
14422146Belfast
100128298285Castlebar
6080152136168Cavan
2322554491269180Coleraine
368217467424274300491Cork
2202348911422116350478Derry
4014216312023088187309188Drogheda
8012421116823510823525923653M-50 Dublin
7216012784248801523411653785Dundalk
24821941837530127444378430260211211Dungarvan
6040222176130402002971939080120251Edgeworthst.
184108453407173213387140408296243324160148Ennis
1201264341681604615736310713715410033786234Enniskillen
128963543419216032620127626821924922713680190Galway
15212433329025017835814834517512620796155150265174Kilkenny
16023051547229031953987476357308389165296155382215195Killarney
1601234093661832174179936825120228311917541280109131114Limerick
40552451971125622828419111810514724415156101156162310202Longford
3248215169154592322422217565852163515512114412026115942Mullingar
6011624420122713026922325686371181751072061932058927216511472Naas
10080368325174169332134307210161242151146842321009314943153111124Nenagh
6017997110199721024235713318111037514333850255290404297128130201254Omagh
200202375332328300400195387217160249117235239363306121280198242200141202332Rosslare
18013437439216827940211935227722730914621420342941581342822117919069329224Shannon
16011721520284121187323137201207200334962557517522833823181123199195114358216Sligo
26021550946624931248311843435130238319528914837517522833107296254265143398295128297Tralee
604325621316993281207256149101130181801651561388522612477358976204164144158219Tullamore
160174373330310228397123385215166247462051702912365120812921217012916032973155289226135Waterford
1801893503073152443741843621121342241072632283072951102691872281861291893071921433328515163Wexford
120170270227280204295254282112551441761812811462651323462401881467519922710926525334014613384Wicklow

See also

Footnotes
  1. In Ireland it is the "Mercantile Marine"; in the United Kingdom it is the "Merchant Navy"; in the USA it is the "Merchant Marine".

References
  1. "What are Irelands greenhouse gas emissions ?". EPA. Archived from the original on 17 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  2. "CIA World Factbook—Ireland—Transportation". CIA. 6 November 2008. Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  3. "Heavy Rail". Project. Transport 21. 18 June 2008. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  4. "The Irish Railway System". The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland. Archived from the original on 21 August 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  5. "Northern Ireland Railways Timetables". Translink. Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  6. "Description of Railway". Bord na Móna. Archived from the original on 19 November 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
  7. "History of Transport in Ireland, Part 1". About Us. Córas Iompair Éireann. Archived from the original on 10 April 2004. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  8. "Roads". Projects. Transport 21. 18 June 2008. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  9. "Share of Diesel in New Passenger Cars – Click Ireland". European Automobile Manufacturers Association. 25 April 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  10. "Per Capita Registrations". European Automobile Manufacturers Association. 1 June 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  11. Parliamentary papers, Reports from Committees, Volume 20. London: House of Commons. 1837. pp. 3, 38–43. Archived from the original on 24 September 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  12. Murphy, John (4 January 2005). "Bianconi home to become Clonmel hotel". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  13. "Hosting Ireland's – Holding Page – Your Domain Has Been Successfully Registered!". www.fedaodonnell.com. Archived from the original on 30 May 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  14. Belfast Telegraph 15 November 2010 Archived 20 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine report on launch of Tiger Coaches service
  15. Briscoe, Neil (22 September 2022). "How do we rate when it comes to public transport use?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  16. "National Travel Survey 2014". Central Statistics Office. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  17. "Number of sea travel passenger movements between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom (UK) from 2003 to 2014 (in 1,000 passenger movements)". The Statistics Portal. 2014. Archived from the original on 20 April 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  18. "Passenger Numbers at Irish Airports – 2002 to 2015". Archived from the original on 21 March 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  19. "Dublin airport's T2 unveiled". Irish Times. 19 November 2010. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  20. O'Halloran, Barry (25 January 2016). "Dublin-London second-busiest route in world". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 4 June 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2018.
  21. McSorley, Anita (10 January 2018). "Dublin to London named Europe's busiest air route in new OAG report". Irish Mirror. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2018.
  22. "Ash makes Ryanair cancel flights until Monday". Forbes. 16 April 2010. Archived from the original on 19 April 2010. Retrieved 30 January 2018 – via Wayback Machine.
  23. "WATS Scheduled Passengers Carried 53rd Edition". International Air Transport Association. 2008. Archived from the original on 23 March 2010.
  24. "Shannon stopover to go by 2008". Business News. RTÉ. 11 November 2005. Archived from the original on 22 February 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2008.
  25. "Aviation Statistics". Central Statistics Office. 18 April 2019. Archived from the original on 14 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  26. "CAA Airport Data 2018". caa.co.uk. UK Civil Aviation Authority. 13 March 2019. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
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