Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, it is all connected. I thank the Senator for his remarks. On his first question on the Ennis to Kilrush piece and the rail network, as part of that Shannon Estuary task force, there will be an integrated transport planning framework which must evolve from that. A wider review will take place of current plans. That is one of the actions which has been taken from the Shannon Estuary task force. As we scale up the ambition within the region, there is an inevitable infrastructure necessity which will arise from that across all transport modes, as the Senator said. We will take that feedback away and I appreciate the Senator's input on it.

On the Senator's other point, I agree a positive message came from the mid-west last week regarding the potential of the new digital economy. We are digitalising and there is spillover of renewable energy, which offers huge industrial potential. As he said, the new economy revolves around significant data. With the huge energy potential of the Atlantic corridor, the mid-west has a massive opportunity. The pinch point in the short term cannot allow us to miss the opportunity in the long term for our country, particularly the whole western coast, and the massive benefits that will accrue from it in energy, transport, logistics, business, new industry and everything else that is spoken about in the wider report. Out of that ambition, it is important that we have proper and sustainable transport planning. As I said, an integrated transport planning framework for the region will be developed. That will be worked on following this publication.