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

The most important thing is that there is a restoration of the Assembly in the North. That would allow a minister to be appointed and allow us to conclude the rail strategy for the whole island, which we are waiting to do. It is for the whole island and includes such matters as links to the north west, which is a really important issue. It started with the Belfast-Dublin-Cork corridor, but it branched out from that. Some of the decisions we will face will be prioritisation of a whole series of recommendations. In my mind, while it is important to invest in Dublin, it is also important to invest to have better balanced regional development. Therefore, projects such as the western rail corridor, metropolitan rail in Limerick and Cork, and the reopening of the Wexford-Rosslare-Waterford line have real strategic importance for the broader, long-term economic development of the State.

The interesting thing that the strategic rail review will do is set out a menu of long-term developments. The real question will be what we do first. One could do everything if one had all the money and staff to do it, but those are both constraints. We need to make sure there is better balanced regional development. We are at risk of tipping over into the Irish Sea. There is nothing wrong with Louth or Dublin, but it will not work for Louth, Dublin, Meath, Kildare and Wicklow if all the development is on the east coast. We just will not be able to cope. We need to balance the country more.