Does Dundalk station have longest platform in Ireland?

Recently a neighbour of mine, who knows of my interest in the railway systems of Ireland, asked me: 'Where is the longest railway platform in Ireland?' I immediately thought that, perhaps, it was one at Heuston Station in Dublin, as I knew that the platforms at Connolly Station are not all that long and the same is true for those at Belfast Lydon Place Station, as the Central Station there has recently been renamed. Then I wondered if, maybe, it was one in some place like Cork which I could not remember?

The answers he gave surprised me greatly, as the questioner is not from Dundalk! 'No! He replied to all of my suggestions. It is actually the No 1 Platform at Clarke Station, Dundalk!'

I thought 'That cannot be correct' as I have known Dundalk Railway Station since childhood and had never heard that being suggested previously; but he quoted the answer from some source I cannot now remember!

I was so intrigued that I looked it up on the internet but could find no definitive answer there other that there was a reference to Limerick Junction Station which said that, at one time the platforms had stretched for nearly a mile in length! Wikipedia, however, explains that Limerick Junction has recently been greatly reduced in length by the removal of what was described as the 'Waterford Berth' and the rail line that served it but does not give the length of any of the existing platforms.

A further enquiry by me to Brendan McQuaid, who had been a former Station Master of Clarke Station for nearly twenty years, elicited the reply from him that he would have thought that one of the platforms at Limerick Junction would have been the longest. He said that he had never heard of either of the two main platforms at the Dundalk Station being described as being particularly long but remarked that the length of the 'station island' had been extended since he had retired.

I was still not convinced about the answer to the question until I was waiting at Dundalk Station last week and noticed a Fire Drill map posted on one of the walls of the platform buildings which showed Platform No. 1 stretching the entire length of the central structure; from just short of the Carrick Road Bridge out to the near underpass at the other side. To those of you who are not familiar with the term 'Platform No. 1', it refers to the platform that serves the 'Down Line' where the trains heading for Belfast arrive from Dublin. At one time this platform only extended from the foot of the ramp where passengers walk up and down from the cross bridge leading to the Ticket Office building, to where the new footbridge leads over the rail lines on the Ard Easmuinn side of the Station. Then, many years ago, the old Platform No 4, from which the line to Enniskillen, known locally as the North Western, was located, was removed and made part of No. 1. The northern end of the platforms was extended in more recent times.

No measurement is given on the Fire Drill maps but, examining an old survey map of the area, I saw that the old 'island' was nearly 2,000 feet long, which I reckon is nearly half a mile. Given the extensions at both ends, No 1 Platform could well be around 1,000 meters which would put it up there in the record breaking dimension! Maybe somebody might take the trouble to measure its length accurately and turn it into a Quiz Question for the future?