Archive for Belfast

From Belfast

Posted in Biographical, Maynooth with tags , , on October 28, 2026 by telescoper

So here I am, back in Maynooth. I’d like to thank the members of the Astronomy Research Centre in the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen’s University Belfast for inviting me and for stimulating discussions during and after my talk, and of course for the hospitality, especially the nice lunch and tea & cakes this afternoon.

The hotel I stayed in last night is very close to the campus, in the University quarter, and I got up early enough this morning to have a very substantial breakfast and walk some of it off by going around the campus before my talk. I took few snaps to prove I was there.

As you can see, it has a strong “red-brick” vibe about it and more than a hint of Gothic Revival, although unlike Maynooth’s version of that style, QUB’s has a distinctly Tudor tinge. My talk was in the buidling on the right, with the extravagant doorway/entrance hall, which is obviously of more modern design.

Anyway, a nice time having been had, I made my way back to Belfast Grand Central Station for the train home. This time we had a proper train which was actually big enough to accommodate all the passengers booked on it, and the seat reservations were showing.

All went well until we reached Dundalk (in the Republic) when the train stopped and officers of An Garda Síochána went through the train demanding to see everyone’s passport. I was shocked. I couldn’t help thinking of ICE in America, or even the Gestapo on which they are modelled. Nobody told me that I had to carry a passport on a train between Belfast and Dublin, so I never thought about taking mine with me on this trip. It was only by sheer fluke that it happened to be in the pocket of my jacket, which I had been wearing last time I needed a passport. I started to wonder what would have happened had I not had it with me, and then I thought they would probably have done nothing. After all, I am white…

The Common Travel Area has been steadily eroded over the years. Dublin Airport has long required passengers from the UK to go through immigration control (which it shouldn’t according to the CTA). More recently – since the end of September 2026 – ferry services between Ireland and Britain have started requiring passports to be carried. I never expected, though, that measures would be taken by the Irish side to effectively create a hard border on the island of Ireland. I don’t know when this policy was introduced. At the very least, Iarnród Éireann should warn passengers using the Enterprise service that they now need to take their passports with them. I wasn’t asked to show my passport on the outbound leg. There’s no passport control when flying from Dublin to the UK, either.

The search for migrants having been completed, the Gardaí alighted from the train and we carried on to Dublin, with a delay which meant I missed my connection to Maynooth. That wasn’t a significant problem, however, because I got on the next train, which was bound for Sligo and which gets to Maynooth significantly faster than the usual commuter trains, so it wasn’t too inconvenient.

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To Belfast

Posted in Biographical with tags , , on October 27, 2026 by telescoper

The last time I attempted to travel to Belfast to give a seminar, in 2019, it didn’t go very well. This time it went better, in the sense that I’ve actually arrived in Belfast. The Enterprise service between Dublin and Belfast has doubled in frequency since 2019 and the price is still modest, just €17.50 each way, including a seat reservation, which is the full fare standard price. Unfortunately the train that arrived in Dublin to take us to Belfast was much smaller than the regular one – only four carriages, presumably owing to a fault on one of the usual trains, so it was crammed – and there were no seat reservations on it. I did find a seat but many people didn’t and had to stand. The train started to empty at Dundalk and by Newry most people could sit down. Other than that, it was fine.

The trip from Dublin Connolly to Belfast Grand Central took about 2 hours and 10 minutes, by the way, which. You would be hard pressed to make a two-hour journey by train in England for the equivalent price.

I’ve successfully visited Belfast a few times over the past few years, actually, but not for work reasons.

It’s quite chilly in Belfast tonight, a good few degrees colder than Dublin, but my hotel room is warm, and being on my own I think I’ll just stay in and finish the book I’m reading. I’ll get up early, hopefully to publish a few OJAp papers, have a cooked breakfast and then venture forth to find Queen’s University Belfast, which I failed to visit in 2019:

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Not to Belfast and Back

Posted in Biographical, Talks and Reviews with tags , , , on January 23, 2019 by telescoper

Well, today I was supposed to give a seminar at the Astrophysics Research Centre at Queen’s University Belfast.

I was actually quite looking forward to visiting Belfast and to my first go on the Enterprise train service between Dublin Connolly and Belfast.

Unfortunately, although the train left Dublin on schedule at 9.30am (due into Belfast at 11.45), after about half an hour we came to a stop near Balbriggan and remained motionless for over an hour owing to a `mechanical fault’. The train eventually limped into Drogheda station after 2 hours and 15 minutes. Passengers were then obliged to get off at board the following service (departing Connolly at 11.20) which was due to arrive at Belfast station at 13.32. Since my talk was due to start at 1pm and finish at 2pm I asked the organizers what to do and, following their advice, am now on the 12.08 service from Drogheda to Dublin.

The defective train was shunted out of the way, but by the time I left the 11.20 from Connolly due into Drogheda at 11.56 had not arrived, so the onward train would also have been late.

Queen’s University Belfast, which I didn’t visit today.

Mechanical faults do happen, of course, but was reprehensible was the complete lack of communication between the crew and passengers. The decision to terminate the train at Drogheda was announced on Twitter over an hour before the train manager bothered to tell the passengers.

Apologies to everyone at QUB for having to cancel, but I really had no choice. I’ll try to reschedule it, and next time I’ll take the bus.

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Cardiff to Dublin via Belfast

Posted in Biographical, Cardiff with tags , , , on April 11, 2018 by telescoper

I thought I write a brief post to arising from today’s travel difficulties, really just to make a record of the episode for posterity.

As last Wednesday I got up early this morning (4.30am) to get the 7am FlyBe flight from Cardiff to Dublin, due into Dublin at 8.05am. Having only hand luggage, as usual, I proceeded straight upstairs to the departure area only to find that the screen said the flight was cancelled, and directed passengers intending to travel on it back downstairs to the `Disruption Desk’ .

A long queue had already formed by the time I got there, but I got to the desk fairly quickly. The assistant explained that the cancellation was due to `staff sickness’ (i.e. they were short of a pilot) and the only option on offer was to fly to Belfast whence a bus would be provided to Dublin. The Belfast flight should have left at 6.15am but was being held for passengers to Dublin. I was also given a £5 refreshments voucher.

I thought a moment and then decided to accept this offer. I didn’t have any morning appointments today, but definitely had to get to Maynooth somehow by tomorrow morning as I have a lecture to deliver.

The plane left Cardiff about 7.15am and arrived in Belfast around 8.10am but when I emerged from the arrivals area there was no bus. In fact it took about 45 minutes to arrive, and we didn’t get going until about 8.55am. Many of the passengers were clearly nervous about missing connecting flights in Dublin, including a group of women planning onward travel to the USA, but the trip was fairly uneventful apart from the fact that the toilet was out of commission necessitating a stop so that people could use the facilities in a service station.

I can confirm that there is no visible border between Northern Ireland and the Republic on the road between Belfast and Dublin, although it does change name from A1 to M1 on the way. The distance between Belfast and Dublin by road is about 100 miles and it took just over two hours. I arrived at Terminal 1 of Dublin Airport at 11.05, almost exactly three hours late. I thought that wasn’t too bad a result given the chaos in Cardiff when I left but it was still a frustrating morning. I had to wait until 11.50 for the bus to Maynooth, where I finally arrived about 12.40.

I will of course be submitting a request for the compensation to which I am entitled for the delay, but above all I hope that those whose arrangements were even more seriously disrupted than mine managed to get to where they needed to go in the end.

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