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

I will be brief. It is about this project, which is really very positive. There is huge potential long into the future with it. I just want to raise the concern that residents in Raheen have raised with me, and I think it needs special attention. There is a huge possibility for Dooradoyle and Raheen to have a train station there. We have 7,000 people working in the industrial estate. They are coming from the hinterland and from Nenagh. They are coming from west Limerick, mid-Clare and north Clare. These places are all within reach of the national rail network and it makes sense to build a train station very near to Raheen Business Park. We should be talking about that and we should be ambitious about that. It can happen and I would expect that Irish Rail would agree with me in that regard.

With respect to the development of train stations along that line, we need to be looking at the city and county development plan for Limerick. This is for political colleagues across Limerick city and county. That development plan does not speak to our rail ambition at the moment. It needs to be aligned. We need to be looking at sites near the nodes along that railway line to see how we can develop them for housing, industry and so on. We need to look at what other infrastructure is needed, such as water services infrastructure, water treatment infrastructure and power infrastructure. All of these things are critically important, and it is crucial that our local authority in Limerick grasps the opportunity that this rail infrastructure presents for our city and county. I know Irish Rail will be very ambitious with respect to the vision that we have. I want to offer Mr. Meade the opportunity to respond with his own thoughts on that project, and he might give us an update on progress to date.