Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Climate Action
Renewable Energy and Port Capacity: Discussion
Mr. Pat Keating:
I would like to support Mr. Carr's points. On rail, we called it out in our original master plan back in 2013. Thankfully, the construction is now under way. It is a key piece of where we see our future. Part of our Foynes project is to grow the existing freight traffic as well because it is not just all about ORE. Given the population growth in Ireland, freight is going to grow considerably because it is almost a one for one correlation. We see rail as having a role to play there and there is a big ambition. Currently, Ireland is roughly 1% rail freight. To grow that into the EU average, or to get growth significantly, there is a lot of headroom there for us as a country. Again, I welcome the co-operation between ourselves and Irish Rail, which is very strong on that front, to ensure we can deliver other options and decarbonise for existing freight traffic for Ireland.
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