Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Meade very much for that. Picking up on a point he made earlier, Mr. Meade said there is an appreciation within the Department that if the lifecycle costs are factored in, this is actually a good investment. I think he used the word "cheap", but I appreciate the point.

I raised with the NTA, as I do a regular basis, the option of heavy rail. The thing I keep hearing back from the NTA is that this stuff is breathtakingly expensive. Is Irish Rail appropriately assessing this stuff in terms of the carbon impact and the lifecycle impact of it? Does Mr. Meade have a sense that there is a step change in thinking in the Department and, more importantly for me, in the NTA, on the role of heavy rail?