Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 17 February 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

All-Island Strategic Rail Review: Iarnród Éireann

Mr. Jim Meade:

I certainly will. We spoke earlier about the fact that the planning process we have is the planning process we have. It is certainly slow and cumbersome from our perspective. A railway audit process takes 18 months form start to finish. If, in an ideal world, we could condense that to three to six months, it would help us get shovels into the ground. Mr. Muldoon's teams are ready to go. We can do the contracts over a short period of time. We have our own infrastructure teams and can complement them. We have contacts in place to call on. There is no problem doing the work. The issue is getting to the point where the paperwork and the business cases are done, and the Department of Public Expenditure and An Bord Pleanála are happy. It is only after that we can get going. Those processes are the only ones we have. I am well aware that the Attorney General is looking at that and considering recommendations as to how we can streamline the process.

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