Mr. Barry Aughey:

In response to Senator Gallagher, I have been engaged with local authorities outside Donegal County Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council and I have also engaged with investors. I first looked at this project in 2015. I have been to London on several occasions to meet investors and have also been communicating with investors in New York. It would be a public-private partnership, PPP. The private sector would look to be the majority investor but it would need investment from both jurisdictions so the Irish and UK governments would need to be involved in this. It is also likely that European structural and investment funds will have an involvement.

On the point regarding bums on seats and people, at the moment, while there is not a large number of people there, it is envisaged that people will come to use this line and live by the use of it. In time, we target 55,000 people on average using the service daily by year six. That involves commuting from Dublin to Monaghan, Omagh, Letterkenny, Derry, in between and back again. It is not about tourism and social issues. The purpose of this is to drive economic growth and create opportunity and, on the back of that, jobs and a growth in population. It is envisaged by IBEC that there will be significant population growth by 2050. Northern Ireland is in a unique position. While there is still the protocol, which has yet to be worked through, Northern Ireland has the ability to trade in the UK and Europe, which places it on a good footing. If it can get past this protocol, there will be significant opportunities.

It is envisaged that people will live by the use of this and that populations will grow in the regions around the train stations and terminals in the towns of Monaghan, Omagh, Letterkenny and Derry, as has been the case.

The other point was on the airport. I do not know what will happen to Donegal Airport. It is most likely that there will be an impact on it. There are airports in Derry and Letterkenny. I am not sure whether both would be sustained. What I do know is that transport by rail is safer, more reliable and more environmentally friendly. There would be fewer carbon emissions. It is futuristic, of its time and a lot more convenient. Does that answer the Senators' questions?