Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We resume our discussions on opportunities for heavy rail. This is our third session with representatives from Irish Rail. Officials from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, and the National Transport Authority, as well as other stakeholders, have already appeared before the committee. Failure to invest in public transport results in poorer interchange facilities, congestion and increasing burning of carbon. A relatively modest investment is clearly in the public interest. We must be careful to avoid analysis paralysis, always waiting for the next consultant's report while investment is held back by a kind of glass ceiling. The committee would be delighted to hear firm investment proposals from Irish Rail. I call on Mr. Barry Kenny, Irish Rail corporate communications manager, to make his opening statement.