Mr. Jim Meade:

There is support from the Department, absolutely. I give credit to the Department and the NTA, which some of the funding comes through. They are supportive of the programmes we have and have listed. They are supportive of the capital programmes. We have just made a submission for Rosslare. The business case has gone in to the Department. We are just about finishing the procurement process for a new fleet for freight. The Department awaits that from us to go through the funding models to see if it has the capital to fund. Everything must go through a business case process and comply with the public spending code. Is the Department's door open to us and can we put plans on the table? Absolutely, I would say that aspect has shifted considerably over recent years. There is a willingness to discuss. We still have to make the case stand up but there is a willingness to cost.

As a west Clare man who grew up on the old west Clare line and now lives in east Clare, which is near Deputy Crowe's constituency, I also lament what we could have if we had the west Clare line right now, and like the Clifden line. In the 1960s, when these railway lines were closed, they were abandoned. Local farmers took them over and people built houses on the permanent way, etc., so it would be a considerable cost to bring some of those back into use. Can it be done? Of course it can but it is all about how many. To be honest, you start talking billions if you are going to CPO land.

Where we have existing alignments, they are from the seventies on and the eighties. We learned from the mistakes of the past. That was our forefathers and none of us were involved. We did not abandon lines anymore but put them under care and maintenance, which is why we have the Foynes line to reopen. I have the unusual distinction that, as a very young manager, one of the first jobs I got when I went into operations was to close the Foynes line, so I am happy to be still here to reopen it. We retained the western rail corridor and the Cork-Midleton line, so we were able to put railways back on for a relatively cheap price. You have to look at all of these assets. There are big numbers involved. Mr. Hendrick will not talk unless you are talking about a hundred million or a billion. Those are the numbers he likes to talk in now because-----