Go Ahead as preferred bidder for Dublin Bus routes
 

https://www.nationaltransport.ie/new...routes-dublin/

And it begins

Perhaps they should run 10% of of the railways too. I think it would be a good idea myself.

The difficulty there is that they would need to be some self-contained lines, where rolling stock isn't shared across the network. And that's before you get into the problems of depots etc.

The only realistic candidates are DART and Cork Suburban, and the latter is far too small to interest international operators, so you'd end up with some fudge where someone in Ireland, who is politically connected, but knows nothing about running a railway gets a juicy contract.

I think that Irish Rail is simply too small to break up into separate franchises, nothing to do with privatisation more to do with the scale of operation.

Sealink, I think it would be unwise to use the link you provided about Southern Rail as an example of being careful about what one wishes for. The company seems to be a complete outlier with uniquely awful industrial relations problems, not all of which are the company's fault.

At best you get two chunks, Dublin and rest

Privatisation is no different to current really, as its all a contract.

Difference is there is no motivation for Irish Rail to get better, no risk. In a private sector approach, you can't make money unless you deliver.

The complete opposite to Southern is Chiltern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiltern_Railways and this is far closer to Irish Rail's operating conditions and asset quality and conditions