{"id":384539,"date":"2026-04-06T10:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T10:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/384539\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T10:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T10:54:09","slug":"complaints-about-cork-rail-service-see-compo-paid-to-passengers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/384539\/","title":{"rendered":"Complaints about Cork rail service see compo paid to passengers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iarnr\u00f3d \u00c9ireann paid out almost \u20ac150,000 in compensation to passengers in less than a year, but a request for similar data on Cork buses has been refused.<\/p>\n

The bus data is not available due to Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation, but The Echo has learned that Bus \u00c9ireann received more than 2,700 complaints about its Cork city routes in the last 12 months.<\/p>\n

In total, more than 5,500 people across Ireland received payouts from Iarnr\u00f3d \u00c9ireann in a 10-month period in 2024.<\/p>\n

The largest payouts included \u20ac1,630 to one person for \u201cfirst class issues\u201d, but the majority of the payments were smaller, with 90% under \u20ac50 and 20% under \u20ac10.<\/p>\n

Overall, the most common reason was refunds for booking errors or unused tickets, accounting for 36% of all payouts, followed by service disruption, representing 33% of all complaints.<\/p>\n

Other reasons passengers received money back or compensation included unhelpful or rude staff, pre-booked seats being occupied, having to be transferred by bus, lack of cleanliness of trains or stations, cancellations, crowding, and problems with toilets.<\/p>\n

More than \u20ac500 was also paid out in compensation for antisocial behaviour, with 12 people compensated for disruptive passengers and five for intimidation by other passengers.<\/p>\n

It comes as The Echo previously highlighted complaints about drinking, drug use, smoking, vaping, violence, abusive behaviour, sexual abuse, shouting, playing videos or music loudly, and singing, all made by passengers on trains to and from Cork.<\/p>\n

The train compensation figures were obtained by Ireland South MEP Cynthia N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa, after a 12-month battle with Iarnr\u00f3d \u00c9ireann, a process that required the involvement of the Information Commissioner.<\/p>\n

Ms N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa told The Echo: \u201cIf we want people to make the switch from the car to the train, then our trains have to be clean, on time, and focused on better customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent request by The Echo for information on compensation or refunds paid out to customers of Cork buses was refused by the National Transport Authority (NTA), who said they did not have the records, but they \u201cmay be held by Bus \u00c9ireann\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bus \u00c9ireann is exempt under Freedom of Information rules, due to government concern that an uneven competitive playing field would be created if commercial state bodies like Bus \u00c9ireann were subject to FOI requests, but their privately-owned market competitors were not.<\/p>\n

MONOPOLY<\/p>\n

Certain state companies which operate in a monopoly market, such as Iarnr\u00f3d \u00c9ireann, are not exempt.<\/p>\n

It comes as more than 2,700 complaints were made about the buses in Cork city in the last year, equating to more than seven complaints a day: between March 1, 2025, and February 28 of this year, 2,738 complaints were made about 28 city bus routes, equating to 228 complaints a month.<\/p>\n

The route with the most complaints (459) was the route 220 from Ovens to Fort Camden, followed by 367 complaints about the 208 from Ashmount to Curraheen.<\/p>\n

The 215 from Drawbridge St to Cloghroe was responsible for 240 complaints, the 214 from Glanmire to CUH 209 complaints, and the 203 from Manor Farm to Parklands prompted 190 complaints.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in TD Thomas Gould said: \u201cNo service that receives more than 2,000 complaints in 12 months is functioning.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Agreeing with Ms N\u00ed Mhurch\u00fa, he said the service had to be improved to encourage people to use public transport: \u201cPeople in Cork still want to use the bus but they can no longer rely on it. They are instead forced into cars and into traffic chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iarnr\u00f3d \u00c9ireann paid out almost \u20ac150,000 in compensation to passengers in less than a year, but a request…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,79,61,60,2738],"class_list":{"0":"post-384539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cork-news","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-transport"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}