CORK TD THOMAS Gould has called on the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) to facilitate extra flights between Cork and Dublin to facilitate people travelling to the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final.

Cork will take on Clare in Croke Park on Sunday, with thousands of people from both counties expected to make the journey to Dublin.

Iarnród Éireann has confirmed that it will be providing an extra six services to and from Cork on the day. However, Bus Éireann has said that it will not be doing the same at present.

In a statement a spokesperson for Bus Éireann said, “At this stage there are no additional services being added to the Route 245X, but Bus Éireann will monitor the situation closely and will communicate any service updates to customers through our website and social media channels.”

“There are tens of thousands of people travelling from Cork, and I’ve had a lot of people calling me about transport,” Gould said on Newstalk.

“I’ve been in touch with Iarnród Éireann, and with Bus Éireann. It’s even gotten bad enough that I’ve contacted DAA to see if they’ll enquire with Ryanair or Aer Lingus about putting on extra flights for fans.”

However, Barry Kenny, Corporate Communications Manager for Iarnród Éireann, said that the issue is not as simple as putting on extra trains.

“To operate a route safely, our drivers need to know the route, they need to know the signals and the layout. So we can’t just pluck drivers from one part of the country and put them somewhere else on short-notice,” he said.

“We only find out about the actual routes required for these matches in about a week or two in advance.”

In a statement, DAA said that any consideration to operate a charter flight between Cork and Dublin this weekend would be a commercial decision for the airlines involved.

“Cork Airport is always ready to facilitate ad hoc charter flights, but it may prove unrealistic for the airlines given they are well into the peak of the very busy summer season with a full deployment of their aircraft on scheduled services,” a spokesperson said.

“Cork Airport wishes the team and the thousands of fans travelling by all modes of transport the very best in their efforts to bring the Liam McCarthy home to Leeside this weekend.”

Throw in for the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final is at 3.30pm this Sunday.