Mr. Conal Henry:

I have a personal view based on very little expertise in rail policy. We need to do with railways what we did with motorways during the Celtic tiger period. We need to throw the big shot and build a national fast-rail infrastructure across all 32 counties. We also need to pick up Limerick. Limerick and Shannon in particular are underserved by our railway network. I have spent 12 years coming down to Limerick from Dublin. I hope to never have to go through Limerick Junction again. It just does not really work, particularly if you are coming from Dublin because it is the early morning. Railways are one of those things that need to be done in the round and as a big policy. I know there is a national rail review. I strongly recommend that, regardless of what comes out of it, Shannon and Limerick should be at the centre of that network. I believe they would be. Those of us who have travelled all around Europe will know that there are wonderful rail links in Italy. Everyone thinks of Italy as a slightly dysfunctional economy but you can go from Venice to Rome in a day. It is something we need to do in Ireland. That would be central to rebalancing passenger movement in airports.