Rail passengers leave time to catch a drink

Sometimes you'd wonder how Irish people ever got a reputation for being late all the time.

At the Oslo bar in Dublin's Connolly Station yesterday, for example, most intending passengers had turned up far too early for their Good Friday trains, in some cases by several hours.

Typical of the conscientious attitude was Stephen McCabe, one of a group of friends from the Dublin 1 area who were drinking beer while waiting to catch the "ten past five" to Dundalk. "We had to check in two hours before departure," joked Stephen, adding that, to be on the safe side, they'd turned up at "half-eleven".

Worryingly, the Iarnród Éireann timetable didn't mention the 5.10 to Dundalk. But since it was still only 2.30, the group had plenty of time to clear up the misunderstanding.

In the meantime, they were enjoying a 19th-century law which exempts "railway refreshment rooms" from the Good Friday alcohol ban, for the benefit of "bona-fide" travellers.

Suspicions that the group's final destination was Oslo rather than Dundalk were undermined by the door security men's insistence on seeing valid rail tickets before entry. And in reply to a query from The Irish Times, they said that no, an 80-cent DART ticket would not suffice.

Nevertheless, the premises was as packed yesterday afternoon as a Friday night train to Tralee. The manageress was too busy for an interview, other than to say that, to her knowledge, the privately operated bar was the only one in the State open "legally".

An Iarnród Éireann spokesman said the company had chosen not to open its own bars on Good Friday in recent years, as it preferred "not to have people hanging around stations". But again in line with licensing laws, alcohol was being served on the trains.

This was particularly true of the one that left Connolly yesterday carrying 350 steam rail enthusiasts along with 13 kegs of beer and a large supply of whiskey.