DART disruption angers traders

BUSINESSES in a Northside village have hit out at Irish Rail’s cancellation of the DART service over the Easter weekend, which they claim has cost them an estimated

?¬300,000 in lost revenue.

The DART service to Howth was shut down for maintenance works on Easter Sunday and the bank holiday Monday, traditionally one of the busiest weekends for local traders.

However, Howth was unseasonably quiet and businesses struggled as a result of the disruption.

President of Howth/Sutton/Baldoyle Chamber of Commerce, Paul Brady, said disruption to the DART was effectively like

“cutting off the main artery

? to Howth in terms of accessibility.

“The weekend is seen as one of the major ones for tourism in Howth but customers just didn’t arrive,

? Mr Brady told Northside People.

“It is estimated to have cost businesses in the region of

?¬300,000 – no small sum in these bleak times.

“From the chamber’s point of view, our grievance is that there was no prior consultation regarding the stoppage.

“We understand that maintenance works need to be carried out at some stage but could it not have been at another time or another weekend?

?

Tommy Gaffney, who owns the Summit Inn, the Waterside Bar and Daybreak convenience store in Howth, described how his businesses suffered.

“The shop alone was down 50 per cent in revenue compared to the same weekend last year,

? he said.

“The pub business was also severely affected because Howth really wasn’t that accessible.

“That’s lost revenue never to be regained again.

“I, and many other business owners, found it more than unusual and strange that Irish Rail didn’t warn or communicate with us prior to the Easter weekend DART cancellation.

?

Catherine White, reservations manager at the Deer Park Hotel Golf and Spa, said their business also lost money as a lot of customers travel by DART to the hotel to play golf, to walk in the grounds and to have lunch.

“However, what concerned and affected us most was that our guests staying at the hotel expected that they would have easy access by DART into Dublin city centre,

? Ms White told Northside People.

“This is what we advertise in promoting our hotel and we offer a free courtesy coach service down to Howth DART Station for our guests.

“The courtesy coach did in fact bring guests down to the DART station only to find that the train was not operating.

“Our customers were naturally not pleased with this as they had made arrangements for trips during their stay with us.

?

Ms White added:

“We had a lot of families staying with us over the weekend and we had some very disappointed guests.

?

A spokesman for Irish Rail confirmed that the commissioning of new signalling on the rail line was undertaken over the Easter weekend.

“Where works require a shutdown to services, we always undertake them at weekends, as we will not disrupt weekday services on DART, which are far busier,

? he told Northside People.

“We were anxious to complete these works ahead of the summer, and the works programme provided that Easter weekend was the optimum in terms of works schedule, lower numbers travelling and to ensure costs were not incurred by delaying works.

?