Irish Rail seem to have had these fare promotions as a result of private luxury coach operators stealing market share away from them, as in a number of instances such as Galway etc, the bus is faster than the train, whilst now there are non stop buses from Cork and Belfast to Dublin by First they want to protect their marketshare.
Dont forget though, that this would have been dramatically increased back in 2009 due to the Malahide Viaduct collapse - something IE has never really recovered from and thus, is still somewhat having an effect on the incomming revenue from the Enterprise.
As for the Gen Vans, Good to see that there finnaly on there way up to York Road and into use - Have they actually come out yet?