The National Transport Authority and Irish Rail say there's no money to provide catering services on all intercity trains, including the Sligo to Dublin line.

Catering services had been suspended across the network in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic after government restrictions on passenger numbers made the service commercially unviable.

Services, however, were reinstated on the Dublin to Cork and Belfast lines.

Last year, Irish Rail said it expected catering services to resume on all lines by the end of 2024 - however that didn't happen.

The NTA's Hugh Creegan explains that subsidising catering across the network could mean a lack of local link bus services elsewhere: