Irish Rail are running a consultation on timetabling changes until Monday 14th September 2026. We are encouraging all ByLandAndSea.ie supporters to submit comments on the linkages between train services and ferry services at Dublin, Cork Ringaskiddy, Rosslare Europort and Belfast.

The consultation is per service, so we suggest ByLandAndSea.ie supporters make up to three submissions, for Dublin to Cork, Dublin to Belfast, Dublin to Rosslare, and for each submission you can copy and paste the introductory section, the Dublin section and the other relevant section (Cork/Belfast/Rosslare) from the consultation response text below.

Consultation response

Introduction

In order to move more international travel away from flying, which is hugely damaging to the climate, and towards rail, which is the most climate friendly form of travel, we need to have better connections between rail services and ferries. Further information on the need to reduce flying is on childrensrightsoverflights.ie and a website promoting alternatives to flying to and from Ireland is ByLandAndSea.ie.

We call on Irish Ferries to actively promote connections ferries and rail services and passenger ferries to and from Ireland, and promote Rail and Sail tickets, including in Irish Rail marketing emails and on the Irish Rail website.

Dublin:

• We call on Irish Rail to review timetables for trains arriving to and leaving Dublin, to ensure linkages with ferries departing from and arriving to Dublin port, taking into account bus travel times between the port and Heuston and Connolly train stations, ferry check-in times, and ferry disembarkation and luggage collection times.
• We call on Irish Rail to liaise with Nolan Coaches and Dublin Bus, as well as with Irish Ferries and Stena ferry, to ensure that bus times facilitate connections between Dublin Connolly and Dublin Heuston and Dublin Port ferry times.
• We call on Irish Rail to actively promote and support the bus service between Dublin Port, Dublin Heuston train station and Dublin Connolly train station nolancoaches.ie/ferry-link, including through Irish Rail marketing emails and on the Irish Rail website.

Cork:

• We call on Irish Rail to review timetables for trains arriving to and leaving Cork Kent, to ensure linkages with ferries departing from and arriving to Cork Ringaskiddy port, taking into account bus travel times between the port and Cork Kent train station, ferry check-in times, and ferry disembarkation and luggage collection times.
• We call on Irish Rail to liaise with Bus Eireann as well as Irish Ferries and Hibernia ferry to ensure that bus times facilitate connections between Cork Kent train station and Cork Ringaskiddy ferry departures and arrivals.
• We call on Irish Rail to actively promote connections between Cork Kent and Cork Ringaskiddy ferries, including through Irish Rail marketing emails and on the Irish Rail website.

Belfast:

• We call on Irish Rail to review timetables for trains arriving to and leaving Belfast Grand Central Station, to ensure linkages with ferries departing from and arriving to Belfast and Larne ports, taking into account bus travel times between Belfast and Larne ports and Belfast Grand Central train station, ferry check-in times, and ferry disembarkation and luggage collection times.
• We call on Irish Rail to liaise with Translink buses as well as Stena ferry and P&O ferries to ensure that bus times facilitate connections between Belfast Grand Central train station and Belfast and Larne ferry departures and arrivals.
• We call on Irish Rail to actively promote connections between Belfast Grand Central Station and Belfast and Larne ferries, including through Irish Rail marketing emails and on the Irish Rail website.

Rosslare::

• We call on Irish Rail to review timetables for trains arriving to and leaving Rosslare Europort to ensure linkages with ferries departing from and arriving to Rosslare Europort, liaising with Irish Ferries, Stena ferry, Brittany Ferries and DFDS ferry, taking into account time for walking between the port and the train station, check-in times, ferry disembarkation and luggage collection time.
• We call on Irish Rail to actively promote connections between Rosslare Europort train station and Rosslare ferries, including through Irish Rail marketing emails and on the Irish Rail website.

If you’re using Immich to manage your photos, you may have discovered that sharing photos between users isn’t as straightforward as you’d like. Many users, particularly couples or families, want a shared folder where both parties can upload photos that are automatically visible to each other, complete with face recognition and smart search capabilities.

While Immich has shared albums, they don’t quite solve this problem. The photos don’t appear in search and aren’t processed for face recognition or analysis. What we really need is a true shared library where both users have full access to the same photos with all of Immich’s powerful features.

Here’s a solution using external libraries and symlinks that creates a pseudo-shared folder between Immich users.

Important: If you rely on uploading photos through the Immich app on your phone this method won’t work for you. You’ll need to sync the photos some other way and copy them into an external library. I export my photos from Lightroom Classic on my laptop, and Syncthing syncs them to the Immich server. Everything is automated from the moment I publish them to the shared directory.

This approach uses external libraries and symbolic links (symlinks) to create a shared photo directory that appears in both users’ Immich libraries. Each user uploads to their own “shared” directory, and through symlinks, those photos automatically appear in the other person’s library as well.

Requirements

• Access to the Immich server’s file system (typically via SSH or direct access).
• External libraries enabled for each user.
• Basic familiarity with Linux commands.

Step-by-Step Setup

Let’s walk through this with an example using John and Mary, a couple who want to share their photos.

1. Set Up External Libraries

First, both users need to have external libraries configured in Immich. For this example, let’s say the external library on the server is this folder:

/mnt/external_library/

It will be mounted in Immich at /external_library/ in this example.

Create a directory structure like this:

/mnt/external_library/
├── john/
│ └── shared/
└── mary/
└── shared/

2. Configure the External Libraries in Immich

In Immich’s admin web interface:

• For John, add an external library pointing to /external_library/john
• For Mary, add an external library pointing to /external_library/mary

3. Create the Symlinks

This is where the magic happens. We’ll create symbolic links that connect each person’s shared directory to the other person’s external library.

Log in to the Immich server and run these commands:

cd /mnt/external_library/john/
ln -s ../mary/shared mary_files
cd ../mary
ln -s ../john/shared john_files

4. Upload and Scan

Now when John uploads photos to /mnt/external_library/john/shared/, they will:

• Appear in his own Immich library
• Automatically appear in Mary’s library (via the symlink at /mnt/external_library/mary/john_files)

The same works in reverse for Mary’s uploads.

After uploading, trigger a scan of the external libraries in Immich, and both users will see the shared photos.

How It Works

A symbolic link is like a shortcut that points to another location in the filesystem. When Mary’s Immich library scans /external_library/mary/, it finds the john_files symlink and follows it to John’s actual shared directory. From Immich’s perspective, it looks like Mary has those photos in her library, but they’re actually stored in John’s directory.

Advantages

• Full Immich functionality: Both users get face recognition, smart search, and all other Immich features on the shared photos
• Simple uploads: Just upload to your own shared directory—no manual copying needed
• Bidirectional sharing: Both users can add photos that the other will see
• Single source of truth: Each photo is stored once (by the person who uploaded it)

Disadvantages

• Duplicate processing: Immich will process each shared photo twice—once for each user. This means:
  
  • Face recognition runs twice.
  • Smart search/ML classification runs twice.
  • More CPU and storage usage for thumbnails and metadata.

  
  

• File ownership: Photos remain in the uploader’s directory. If John deletes his Immich library or account, Mary loses access to his photos.

• Requires server access: You need command-line access to the server to set up symlinks.

Important Notes

• Upload directly to external libraries: Don’t upload to your main Immich library through the app. Upload directly to the shared directory in your external library.
• Backup strategy: Make sure your backup solution covers the external library directories.
• Permissions: Ensure that the Immich container has proper read permissions for all directories involved.

Conclusion

While this solution requires some technical setup and comes with the overhead of duplicate processing, it provides a practical way to share photos between Immich users with full functionality. This approach has proven reliable for my wife and me, who wanted a shared family photo library without waiting for native multi-user library support in Immich.

If you’re comfortable with the command line and the tradeoff of duplicate processing, this solution provides the shared photo experience many users are looking for.

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Cork’s Pope Quay packs more character into two hundred metres than most cities manage in a mile. I was standing on the south bank with the River Lee between us, drawn initially by the sweep of that pedestrian footbridge. It’s a clean, modern arc that sits surprisingly well against the jumble of modern, Georgian and Victorian facades behind it. The shopfronts tell the story of the neighbourhood in bold strokes: Coffee Scape and its Eastern European treats in hi-vis orange, MYO with its painted kingfisher on sky blue, and the enduring Sloans at the end of the row. Above it all, Shandon’s steeple rises like a referee keeping order over the chaos below. The sky was doing its best impression of a dirty dishcloth, but honestly, Cork wears grey well. It makes the colours along the quay punch harder than they would under blue skies. One hooded figure on the bridge, a life ring on the wall just in case, and the whole scene had that quiet mid-afternoon energy where a city is just getting on with itself.

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Teenage Kicks Through a Tiny Screen

A hand went up three rows ahead of me and suddenly I had my shot. The Undertones were tearing through their set at Cyprus Avenue in Cork, the stage lights throwing fat circles of purple and magenta across the room, and this person decided twenty seconds of shaky phone footage was worth the effort. It gave me the frame-within-a-frame I’d been waiting for!

Everything around it dissolves into these massive, dreamy bokeh orbs that make the whole scene feel slightly unreal. I shot it wide open and let the background go completely, trusting that the phone screen would anchor the image. It’s one of those concert moments that sums up how we experience live music now. We’re half watching, half recording, the real thing and the digital copy sitting right next to each other.

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#2024 #bokeh #concertPhotography #Cork #CyprusAvenue #gig #Ireland #liveMusic #lowLightPhotography #Photo #Photography #punkRock #SamyangAF75mmF18FE #smartphone #SonyA7RV #TheUndertones

Winter Light on a Forgotten Home

Nature is starting to take over this abandoned farmhouse on Harper’s Island in Co Cork.

The old stone gateposts are still standing, the wire fence still technically there, but it’s clear nobody’s coming through that gate anymore. Places like this always make me wonder about the people who lived here: the dinners cooked, the fires lit, the boots left by the door. Now it’s just the tree, the wind, and the slow quiet process of a building becoming part of the landscape again.

Tonight, I saw Jennifer Willis give a talk tonight at Blarney Photography Club. She’s an engaging speaker, with great photos and emotional stories.

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#2026 #abandoned #Cork #CorkHarbour #derelict #farmhouse #HarperSIsland #Ireland #landscapePhotography #Photo #Photography #rural #SonyA7RV #winter

Two’s Company at the beach

Moments before yesterday’s photo of a beach inspector there were two seagulls.

I was watching them as I walked down Garrylucas Beach and neither moved so I have a couple of shots of them with dramatic waves thundering behind them. They seemed to be not disturbed by the wall of water beyond.

I on the other hand kept an eye on the incoming tide, but I didn’t stay long. It was freezing.

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#2026 #AtlanticOcean #beachPhotography #BlackAndWhite #Cork #CountyCork #GarrylucasBeach #Ireland #IrishCoast #monochrome #Photo #Photography #seagulls #SonyA7RV #WestCork #wildlifePhotography

Donncha

2026-02-02 20:05:49

The Beach Inspector

Garylucas Beach in Co Cork was hit by 40kph winds this afternoon, with tall waves crashing on the beach. I took a few photos but retreated to the car as it was so cold. Within minutes the wind had ripped right through me.

Luckily, gulls are protected somewhat from the cold by their feathers and this gull stood in the water without a care in the world for several minutes.

Aperture	ƒ/8
Camera	ILCE-7RM5
Focal length	240mm
ISO	800
Shutter speed	1/2000s

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#2026 #AtlanticOcean #beachPhotography #coastalBirds #Cork #CountyCork #Garrettstown #GarrylucasBeach #Ireland #IrishCoast #Photo #Photography #seagull #SonyA7RV #waves #WestCork #wildlifePhotography