Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Other sectors may have primary responsibility in electricity generation and agriculture but so does the Minister's. No sector can operate independently. The Minister is very passionate about Ireland's offshore opportunity in the decades ahead. It is fair and legitimate to say, given the limited resources at the Department of housing, that it is focusing on the east coast development of our offshore industry. It would be wrong if we did not do everything we can to get the south and west coast going in parallel. There is a concern that we are not doing enough. It is not in the Minister's area as regards primary responsibility but I think he will take a strong interest in the southern and western opportunity and developing DMAPs. I am sure the Minister is engaging with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on that challenge. It is critically important we get the enduring regime, as we call it, moving as quickly as possible.

The Minister, Deputy Ryan, brought two new rail projects to Cabinet, one being Galway to Claremorris and the other Waterford to Wexford. They are part of a new freight strategy to create a freight corridor between the north west and the south east. It is very exciting. It will help rebalance the country in its economic and spatial development and, critically, it will help us to decarbonise if we can move a lot of haulage onto our rail system. While it is a primary responsibility of the Department of Transport to make that happen, there is a role for the Department of enterprise to help industry and businesses to make that transition. Where they might currently use road haulage to a great degree, there is an opportunity to shift a lot of haulage to rail.