Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Aughey. He had quite an array of questions thrown at him and has been very good at covering them. For years, I have been heavily involved in the campaign to reopen the western rail corridor. It is a slightly different proposal in that we are looking to reopen existing tracks. Perhaps the route Mr. Aughey is taking of putting in brand new infrastructure will be quicker because I have been working on the western rail corridor campaign since 2014.

The Minister and the NTA, through Iarnród Éireann, commissioned a report from EY-DKM consultants. Those of us who want to see the rail line reopened were not overly impressed with the report. Has Mr. Aughey done a report into the viability of the proposed line? Will he elaborate on how much it will cost to get this project operational? How much of that is expected to come from the Irish Government? What level of passenger numbers needs to be reached for the project to be sustainable? Does Mr. Aughey envisage the line being self-funding? We know other rail networks in the country are heavily subsidised by the Government. They do not make profits. The same is true for Dublin Bus and the Luas but they are considered public services and we provide transport for citizens because it is part of what the State does. Does Mr. Aughey envisage the rail link he proposes will wash its own face? Does he expect it to be subvented, like other rail links?

It is an exciting proposal. As someone who lives in County Mayo, I am very aware of the deficit in transport links in the north west. We are not as well connected as other parts of the country. I believe rail is the future and agree entirely that if the rail network is built with hubs where people can connect and get to their places of work easily, they will live in those areas. We see that with the Luas line, for example. People bought homes close to Luas stops because they can get to work. It is a chicken-and-egg scenario. If we wait for people to live in places before building the infrastructure, it will never happen. Either we believe in balanced regional development or we do not. The only way to get people to live outside the main urban centres like Dublin is to make it viable to live elsewhere and still get to work.

The infrastructure has to come first. People will live there if the connectivity is in place. I thank Mr. Aughey for his presentation and all the answers he has given to the committee.