Let us be clear here about the process
The board of CIE can close any line they wish if it is not economically viable, basically the entire network
The minister has no power to over rule the board
If any member of the CIE group reduces its service level on any route without first obtaining the authorisation of the NTA is liable to be hit with a significant fine
The public service grant is a block grant and is applied on a network basis, so there is no way of knowing how much is allocated to any one service.
Anyone who has read the closure notice carefully should by now have noticed that it can be legally challenged as it contains several glaring mistakes. Basically the line will remain open beyond July 21st as the notice will have to be reissued.
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