Can I drink alcohol on intercity trains these days?

Alcohol is banned on all services at the moment,if there's a CSO on the train they will tell you to put it away or possibly take it from you.

You may be responsible, but unfortunately there are a huge number of scumbags on the trains that make it a trip from hell especially on weekends, that has seen a full and stringent ban on alcohol on board.

Yep it's a pity but I'd happily go with the ban if it makes the difference between people being able to travel safely versus being harassed by drunken idiots.

It’s a pity we have so many numerous numb-sculls in this country though ruining it for the rest of us as well as well as no sort of deterrent from the law.

get on a TGV, Eurostar, Renfe, you can bring on alcohol, purchase onboard , people do, ive done... a nice way to relax and wind down...

Regulations need to be tailored for the clientele and risk assessments carried out obviously prohibits it.

You can buy or drink your own on UK trains too and they have all the same social problems we have. They are generally way more open then we are about licencing law in regards to trains, parks, cafes, late drinking etc.

I bet if Irish trains had the huge passenger numbers the continental and UK trains have then EI wouldn't be long reopening the buffet cars to sell booze

Just to clarify, alcohol is banned on all services at the moment due to covid,same reason there's no onboard catering.

In normal times alcohol is allowed and sold onboard with the exception of certain services such as Waterford and Galway on Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon.

So they ban the alcohol and let the scummy behaviour continue

So the scammers drink away while decent people like the OP can't. Typical

The op wants to follow the rules. It is just those that don't care about the rules that get to do what they want. The same guys were having their house parties while everyone else was in lockdown.

Is it really just a covid thing ?

If so I stand corrected.

Yes just Covid, in theory you cannot eat or drink anything on the train because face coverings are required. IE were the only place able to sell alcohol on Good Friday for many years once you had a train ticket...

Alcohol is sold on most services apart from certain weekend exceptions though due to a complete ban which isn't strictly enforced. Years ago you would often have it confiscated (i.e. if you want to stay on the train and have it returned at destination) on banned services but this doesn't happen anymore and you would need to be really bad to have guards remove you.

In the summer there was a group drinking on a train and someone tweeted Irish Rail who informed Control who informed the driver who got out to find the CSO to ask them to move carriages and continue drinking. How do I know, because they moved to my carriage and asked if I mind them drinking and said about the tweet. I then looked up the tweet and asked the CSO who confirmed. I had just assumed the driver running down the platform was to fix a door issue.

This is the level of "enforcement" applied within IE...

Now an area of confusion is your not allowed on DART/Commuter trains however aside from enforcement issues I am not sure if this is underpinned legally.

On a recent journey to Sligo , the checker was strict about it. No Drinking ! I suppose it really depends on the checkers.

We were drinking after the last Saturday Ireland match in the Aviva. It was September on the special train. nothing was said to us and we weren't the only ones but we weren't making much noise either.

The real problem with drinking on Trains is because of people bringing their own booze on board. IE should allow drinking of alcohol which has been bought on the train. Mind you, one of the few benefits of minimum unit pricing is likely to make bring ultra-cheap slabs onto trains less affordable.

Sorry I meant to say "brought onto the train" not "bought on the train".