Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

-----when it comes to the electrification and investment of rail infrastructure, the first priority is metropolitan rail in Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway. Others are Oranmore station, the twin-tracking of Limerick, building out the metropolitan rail network, building Moyross station and moving the train station in Waterford. These are all achievable, deliverable, immediate priorities.

It is not a case of saying "No" to a high-speed, 300 km/h, several billion euro line from Dublin to Cork. However, there is risk. Everyone says it is great that we have all the motorways going to Dublin. What has happened? Currently, 75% of new housing is in Dublin and the surrounding counties. We have to start delivering better balanced regional development. That is at the centre of the national planning framework. The way to do that is light rail for Cork and Galway, as we discussed earlier, and metropolitan rail systems. The Limerick rail network and the Cork metropolitan rail network will be perfect for the new battery electric trains we have bought, which could charge in Mallow and run to Midleton on that charge, or charge in Nenagh or Ballybrophy and run to Shannon on the other side.