A full trolley service will not return to Iarnród Éireann until early 2024.
That is according to Barry Kenny, Corporate Communications Manager with Irish Rail, who said some services will have to wait longer than others.
He told The Hard Shoulder: "It will be next month for the Cork to Dublin route - that obviously benefits Limerick and Kerry lines as well.
"We're doing a full tender then for the national network.
"I've got to be honest with you: you're looking at early 2024 for that".
Mr Kenny said budget restraints meant they could do nothing more at the moment.
"50% of customers have it right now," he said.
"We'd have loved to have had it across all the routes, but unfortunately it wasn't possible within the funding we had".
A map shows the DART+ programme. Picture by: Irish RailMr Kenny was speaking as the Government approved a major extension of the DART to the south-west.
Trains will be extended from Dublin city centre to Hazelhatch and Celbridge.
It will see 20km of new electrified track, with a new station at Heuston West, and electrification of the Phoenix Park Tunnel.
The project will move into the planning system by the end of March - with hopes for the line to be completed by the end of this decade.
Mr Kenny said other plans include an expansion of late-night services.
"I think it is the next step in terms of our service expansion on the national networks - later evening services to the various regional cities," he said.
"We obviously go to 21:00 [which] is the last train to Cork and Limerick, but on some of the others it is a bit earlier.
"That's where we would see the next wave of expansion," he added.
Listen back to the full interview below:
