Mr. Barry Kenny:

To be fair to Mr. Carr, as the director of commercial business units, he covers both the rail freight and Rosslare Europort aspect. That is what the rail freight 2040 strategy is about, going back into our ports and developing the intermodal hubs. Sadly, in the past, businesses closed. Decisions were made regarding the sugar beet industry which was a huge volume for rail freight services. That and other industries closed that were fairly large players in terms of rail freight. The plans we have also need to be supported by public policy.

We are working with the Department of Transport to make it a better policy environment for businesses to choose to move to rail freight. Something in other countries, and it is the model that we think is preferable, it is not about subsidising but rail freight operating on a commercial basis. It is very straightforward. It is about the type of environmental incentives needed for business to make it more attractive to move product by rail as well because, as Mr. Carr outlined, they have impetuses to make that happen which the State can capitalise on. We are very much engaged with the Department on that.