Call for Irish Rail to provide water refill fountains at North Kildare train stations

A councillor representing the Clane-Maynooth Municipal District has called on Irish Rail / Iarnród Éireann to provide water refill fountains at train stations located in North Kildare.

Labour Party Cllr Angela Feeney recently contacted Irish Rail for information regarding the provision of water filling points at its train stations in North Kildare. 

Cllr Feeney said tat she welcomes the rollout by Irish Rail of free water filling stations across its network. 

She elaborated: "Refilling reusable water bottles at a refill fountain reduces the amount of plastic containers thrown in bins and ending up in landfill.

"It makes huge sense to have them where there are large movements of people.

"Maynooth University has been very proactive in providing water refill fountains across the campus".

She also asked Irish Raul for information as to when the provision of this service might happen in the North Kildare train stations at Kilcock, Leixlip, Maynooth, Sallins and Hazelhatch, as 'these are very busy commuter links', according to Cllr Feeney.

"As we have seen from the recent National Transport Authority census, these commuter numbers have experienced huge growth and are set to grow further in the years ahead," she added.

In response, Irish Rail has said it is in the process of seeking funding for additional bottle filling stations, and continues to roll out a number of them each year.

The reply also added that locations are being prioritised 'by footfall initially, but also availability to shops (water access prior to boarding), and the amount of civil works involved.'

Irish Rail further said that the train stations in North Kildare highlighted by Cllr Feeney will be considered in the rollout.

Labour Party Cllr Angela Feeney. Photograph supplied by Cllr Feeney.