{"id":18211,"date":"2026-06-08T13:49:55","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T12:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=18211"},"modified":"2026-06-08T13:49:55","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T12:49:55","slug":"irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Transport Minister must explain why the replacement of Irish Rail\u2019s IT system is such an omnishambles and who is responsible, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly.<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, said:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast month, it was revealed that Irish Rail had written down the value of a new IT system by \u20ac50 million. Today, we learned that the risk of service interruptions has been heightened by the its inability to source replacement parts for the existing system.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIrish Rail has just two spare central processing units for the critical traffic management system, which was commissioned more than 20 years ago and was supposed to have been replaced in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis raises further serious questions for Irish Rail &#8211; chief among them, why has this project become such an omnishambles and who is responsible for this fiasco?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere have been many examples of monumental waste by the government and the public sector over recent years, but a \u20ac50 million write down of one IT project is unprecedented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe fact that the continued operation of the entire traffic control system, which oversees the movement of trains, is so precarious is deeply concerning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time for the Minister for Transport to step in and take control of this runaway train. Minister O\u2019Brien must now provide answers as to why the replacement of this critical system has been delayed for so long, what happened to the \u20ac50m assigned to this project and what are the immediate and long term implications for passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>June 8th, 2026<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Transport Minister must explain why the replacement of Irish Rail\u2019s IT system is such an omnishambles and who is responsible, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, said: \u201cLast month, it was revealed that Irish Rail had written down the value of a new [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":18061,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[396,692,7,547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aidan-farrelly","category-pac","category-press-release","category-transport"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Transport Minister must explain why the replacement of Irish Rail\u2019s IT system is such an omnishambles and who is responsible, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, said: \u201cLast month, it was revealed that Irish Rail had written down the value of a new [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T12:49:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"942\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"602\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@SocDems\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Press Officer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\"},\"headline\":\"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T12:49:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":266,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Aidan Farrelly\",\"PAC\",\"Press Release\",\"Transport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/\",\"name\":\"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles - Social Democrats\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T12:49:55+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg\",\"width\":942,\"height\":602},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"name\":\"Social Democrats\",\"description\":\"Change Ireland for the better\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Social Democrats\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"ga-IE\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/09\\\/SocDems-logo.png\",\"width\":846,\"height\":358,\"caption\":\"The Social Democrats\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/socialdemocratsireland\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/SocDems\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7\",\"name\":\"Press Officer\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\\\/ga\\\/author\\\/press\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles - Social Democrats","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/","og_locale":"ga_IE","og_type":"article","og_title":"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles - Social Democrats","og_description":"The Transport Minister must explain why the replacement of Irish Rail\u2019s IT system is such an omnishambles and who is responsible, according to Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly. Deputy Farrelly, who sits on the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, said: \u201cLast month, it was revealed that Irish Rail had written down the value of a new [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/","og_site_name":"Social Democrats","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","article_published_time":"2026-06-08T12:49:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":942,"height":602,"url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Press Officer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@SocDems","twitter_site":"@SocDems","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Press Officer","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/"},"author":{"name":"Press Officer","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7"},"headline":"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles","datePublished":"2026-06-08T12:49:55+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/"},"wordCount":266,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg","articleSection":["Aidan Farrelly","PAC","Press Release","Transport"],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/","name":"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles - Social Democrats","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-08T12:49:55+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"ga-IE","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Aidan-new-Dail-pic.jpg","width":942,"height":602},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/irish-rail-new-it-system-nothing-less-than-an-omnishambles\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Irish Rail new IT system nothing less than an omnishambles"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","name":"Social Democrats","description":"Change Ireland for the better","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"ga-IE"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#organization","name":"The Social Democrats","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"ga-IE","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/SocDems-logo.png","width":846,"height":358,"caption":"The Social Democrats"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/socialdemocratsireland","https:\/\/x.com\/SocDems"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/#\/schema\/person\/70fcd60661593532616f9f91a0fb8db7","name":"Press Officer","url":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/author\/press\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18211"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18211\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18212,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18211\/revisions\/18212"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}