Irish Rail defends €70,000 taxi bill for drivers

IRISH Rail has staunchly defended its decision to spend €70,000 a year on taxis to carry drivers daily from Dublin to Longford and back again.

The other option was to allow the drivers return home to Dublin each evening in an otherwise empty train.

That same empty train would then have to be driven to Longford early next morning to run on the Longford schedule, said Irish Rail spokesman Barry Kenny.