Mullingar railway station hosts ‘Hello, How Are You?’ day

It’s Thursday May 15, 2025. The rail station in Mullingar has a little knot of people assembling around a table laden with goodies.

Dave Quinn is cheerfully handing out tea, coffee, scones and little punnets of fruit to the passengers assembling on the platform waiting for their train.

The free nourishment is a simple gesture that hopes to make a big difference.

‘Hello, How Are You Day’ wants to get people talking. On it everyone across Ireland is invited to take a moment to say hello and check in with the people around them.

The campaign is built on a simple but powerful idea: that a genuine ‘Hello, how are you?’ can be the start of meaningful connection, understanding, and support.

Fiona O’Shea, safety officer with Iarnród Éireann, coordinated the Mullingar event: “Mental Health Ireland holds this event on May 15 every year,” she said. “It encourages people to check in with each other, to have a chat.”

Hosting the Mullingar event in the rail station is a great way to get the message out: “Irish Rail have a wellbeing department to support all kinds of health initiatives, including mental health,” Fiona said.

“Every year they encourage the 5,000 staff members to have these coffee mornings and chat.

“This is our third year to do it, we do another ‘Hello How Are You Day’ in October, so hopefully John will let us come again. We do it between 10am and 11am, because two trains come through – there’s a train to Sligo and one to Dublin.”

The John in question is station manager at Mullingar, John McLoughlin: “It’s not only for us, it’s for the whole community,” he said.

“Anyone can be lonely or go through tough times. This promotes the importance of talking. All the staff and the passengers enjoy it, everyone’s laughing and in good form. It’s a good thing.”

Fiona says the event has been very well received: “All the feedback has been positive.

“The station doesn’t have coffee shop facilities, so people are delighted to have an opportunity to have a coffee and a pastry or a bowl of fruit.

“They’re pleasantly surprised by it, and it puts a smile on people’s faces.”

On a sunny May day the Mullingar rail station looks splendid. The beautiful cut stone buildings are the perfect setting for a mid-morning chat: “Apart from the Dublin Sligo line, we also have the track that leads to Athlone (now disused).

“A lot of people love to come down and have a look, especially retired staff. They all come in and give you information about years ago when the Athlone train ran.

“It brings back some good memories for them as well,” John said.

Such stories are at the heart of the ‘Hello, How Are You Day’ campaign, and the goal of forging simple human connections.