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

I will certainly come back in. I want to mention the transport hub in Limerick that has only opened in the past few weeks. It is phenomenal in how it is changing our perception of public transport in the mid-west. I commend Irish Rail on its role in making that happen. I also commend it on putting in place the new early train service from Limerick to Cork. This issue has been raised with me on the doorsteps over many years. I thank Mr. Meade and his team for delivering. It really is changing how we think about intercity transport between the State's third and second cities.

I want to ask about the Ballysimon train project. There is potential there if we think about the big context whereby Limerick and the mid-west are growing at twice the rate of the capital. That is the national planning framework objective. We probably need to be talking about multiple stations on that line between Limerick and Limerick Junction, not just a park-and-ride facility. We need to look at where a lot of new developments are happening there. For example, there is the new Bon Secours Hospital, the new Educate Together school and the mixed-use development that was announced just last year. Northern Trust employs a few thousand people very near the train line. We should also be looking at where the Ennis branch meets Limerick Junction because it seems to make sense to look at development opportunities around there. This is not necessarily a matter for Irish Rail. Rather, it is for the Land Development Agency to look at how we can develop parcels of land around the locations at which we can build strategic train stations-----