[Mark Gleeson]

I've suffered here as well, out of 4 attempts only once did it work as it should and all 3 failures where IE's fault and yes I even met a nun on the way. Thankfully I always got a seat, while I must add not everyone did.

The seats are clearly marked with the sticker at eye level so the general ignorance of some members of the public is the biggest challenge. You won't find nice people to help you elsewhere in the world.

The problem actually has three fronts

1) If the wrong train type is put into the system by IE the bookings go missing (Dublin Cork its common)
2) It all depends on some lazy IE employee sticking the seat cards into the slots at the windows (extremely frequent they are missing)
3) It assumes the Irish public are not thick about it

All three issues can be sorted by IE if there bothered

There is no talking to some people and even with a big seat reserved sign in place they won't shift and its not your responsibility to make them shift. Its totally legal for the guard to throw someone off for sitting in a reserved seat which is not theres, they can even be fined.

Firstly if you ever had to stand as a result you are entitled to a 100% refund. If you encounter an IE employee (not catering staff) who is troublesome and refuses to assist you (even with the granny scenario) follow the following steps

Ask for the name of the member of staff and where they are based, thats a basic right you have, if they refuse its no matter since IE know from the roster,
Insist they initial the back of your ticket to indicate that seat reservations where not provided
Indicate you will make a complaint to Steve Murphy General Manager (or Myles McHugh Service Planning Manager if heading west) not that you will but should have the desired effect
Mention Platform 11

At this point I'd make a phone call but its never come to that

BTW the pesky students can book seats as well