3,000 EXPRESS SYMPATHY
November 1987
OVER 3,000 people sign a book of condolences in the town hall, expressing sympathy with the people of Enniskillen.
Eleven people are killed by an IRA bomb in the Co. Fermanagh town on Remembrance Day.
‘People in Dundalk are as sick as anybody else over the atrocities in Northern Ireland,’ says Cllr. Jimmy Callan, chairman of the urban district council.
He will personally deliver the book to the council in Enniskillen.
‘ Too often Dundalk has been in the news and has got a bad name, over what has happened in the north. It is time to stand up and be counted,’ Mr. Callan adds.
Meanwhile, Deputy Brendan McGahon passes on his sympathy to the Enniskillen people to Rev. John McCarthy, who was for ten years was Church of Ireland rector in Dundalk.
The Fine Gael TD is to attend a special remembrance service in Enniskillen, and is organising a bus to another outdoor service in the coming weeks. A survey carried out by staff at Clarke Station, indicates there are 876 daily commuters using the suburban and new Enterprise services.
It shows local people are quite happy ‘ to let the train take the strain.’
The figure includes day-trippers to Dub- lin, as well as regular passengers making journeys to the capital for work and college.
‘Numbers have increased by 50% since the Enterprise service was introduced,’ says station master, Brendan McQuaid.
Iarnród Éireann’s Cyril Ferris adds, ‘While other towns may have more commuters than Dundalk, the town has the longest tradition of commuting to Dublin, going back over one hundred years, when trains could travel at the high speed of sixty miles per-hour.’
Passenger numbers on the rail network have been increasing at a steady rate of 5% per-annum in recent years, a trend Iarnród Éireann expects to continue.
‘Already ticket revenues from Drogheda are up 26% in this commuting season,’ explains Mr. Ferris. The season starts in September.