Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

What benefits does the witness see in a rail link to Foynes Port for freight given the additional pressures? We only have one freight link and that is from Mayo straight to Dublin. There are parts of that line where there is only one carriageway. If that goes down or is blocked, that is our freight blocked for the entire western region. This is something businesses are telling us. They are concerned about increasing their capacity, attracting new contracts and investing further. If that line is blocked for even half a day, it means that their businesses are seriously hit financially. There is no alternative route.

With regard to the western rail corridor, it would be lovely to have a link from Claremorris as a commuter base into Galway and on to Limerick. There would then be a potential to grow the population in Mayo because of the offshoot from Claremorris to Castlebar and Ballina. There would be a potential for a commuter belt outside of Galway. The witness is saying that he is interested in spreading the population load between the cities. If we want to see Galway and Limerick increase in population, surely we should be looking at connecting those cities to the wider areas, including Mayo, Sligo and Roscommon. We need these supportive industries to advance these projects.

It is interesting to look at the maps. There is a 1739 map of our road network and a 2015 map. What is clear from those two maps is that there is nothing in the north west in either of them. We have not addressed the issue in the last couple of hundred years. The north west is consistently left isolated. It is the same with TEN-T funding and this is why I am asking the witnesses for their views on this. The west of Ireland does not feature on the map. We were not included. It goes from Cork to Dublin to Belfast, with a little offshoot into Limerick, courtesy of the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan. The north west was left off it. How are we supposed to advance our infrastructure if we are not even included in the pot to access funding? What do we do next?

The potential is there for County Mayo to be a commuter area to the larger cities. Sligo should be promoted in that regard as a major economic hub in the north west with access to Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon, Mayo and into Galway and Limerick as well. That whole region has potential. I am glad that the witnesses have said "build it and they will come" and spoken about self-fulfilling prophecies, because the lack of investment has led to the decline in that region. Had we invested a number of years ago, we would not have seen our population go down so much. I am surrounded by Dublin Deputies on this particular committee so I am fighting the good fight for the west. I apologise, Chairman.