Mark,

The Irish Rail website does not allow you to book tickets till 28 days in advance, as you have found out. You can, however, contact them with questions: http://www.irishrail.ie/home/contact_us.asp

Whether seats are available on the day of travel depends on factors such as sporting events going on around the country and other things like that that massive crowds might be going to.

I really suggest contacting Irish Rail to see what they say.

Michele

Mark,

Sorry you are not getting replies. I suggest phoning them. Iarnród Éireann in Dublin: 01 836-6222 Mon-Sat 9 am - 6 pm; Sun 10 am - 6 pm. That is Irish time, which is 5 hours later than Eastern Standard Time.

To phone Ireland from the US dial: 011 + 353 + area code minus the zero + number.

Also try this contact form: http://www.cie.ie/home/contact_us.asp In the "To" box select "CIE Holding Company". Let's see if that might work.

Michele

i can't speak for any other routes with any expertise, but we frequently take the train to/from Heuston station in Dublin and Galway.  we always buy our tickets the day of travel without an issue and only one time was the train full enough that we had to share our 4-top table booth with anyone else.

Our experience shows that on big sporting event days, they add extra trains and issue warnings on the website.

hope this helps reassure you -