Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank each of the witnesses for appearing today. I thank them for their patience, perseverance, vision and ambition with regard to development of the region they represent. I stress that all of these people are here on a voluntary basis. They have paid their own way to get to Dublin, and have been working for a long time to deliver what they see is an absolutely logical use of a badly misused piece of national transport infrastructure. I have huge respect for Deputy Kenny. I think he is a superb representative of his region. I want to clarify at the beginning of my contribution that none of these people, nor indeed myself, are setting out to block a rail line in any context. From the beginning of this campaign we have been absolutely clear that we want to see both happen. We are of the west of Ireland. We want to promote the development of the west and the quality of life people can have living and working in the west. A rail service would add to that. Our deepest concern, and it is not one that will go away any time soon, is that in ten years' time we will be sitting in this room making the exact same case. I will be in the town of Athenry, where I was educated. There is a particular street in Athenry where you walk over a bridge that looks down at a rotting rail line. That would be a horrific outcome for the people of Athenry, east Galway and the west. That is my first point.

Nobody here is setting out, in any shape or form, to block a rail line. We are making the case that any objective analysis carried out in the past ten to 15 years by people who are expert in transport economics - Ernst & Young and JASPERS-European Investment Bank - has drawn the conclusion that right now it does not make economic sense to develop this section of rail from Athenry to Claremorris and on to Collooney. They have never said it will not make sense in the future. They have been clear on that, but right now there is no economic case to be made for the development of a rail service. All we are saying is, in the interim, can we please have the vision and ambition to bring this lifeline back to life, to inject energy, vitality and quality of life into towns and villages that are bereft of it the whole way along that corridor?

We are also deeply confused about the messaging emanating from the Department of Transport. I ask that the Cathaoirleach and the secretariat, at the end of our contribution today, seek to have officials from the Department, Transport Infrastructure Ireland and Irish Rail, appear before this committee so we can end the confusion to the greatest possible extent. The Department has commissioned and spent a lot of money on an all-Ireland rail review, which has drawn certain conclusions about one section of the line from Athenry to Claremorris. That same Department has been funding Galway County Council, already to the tune of €375,000, to develop feasibility studies, planning and design for a greenway along that same line. To be frank, as a representative of east Galway, I am not certain what the Department's intention is. It has been that confusion and lack of clarity in the Department's approach that give me cause for concern.

We also live in a democracy. I recall, and Mr. Cunniffe mentioned, the public outcry on a Sunday afternoon in 2018, assembling in the car park of Tuam Cathedral.

Those of us organising it arrived earlier in the day. We thought if 500 people turned up, that would be fantastic. If 1,000 people turned up, that would be absolutely wonderful. That would be the people speaking with great strength and unity. Some 3,000 people turned up. It was unprecedented. Of any other political cause that has emanated in east Galway during the last ten, 15 or 20 years, nothing had engendered that kind of support. That day, 3,000 people marched through Tuam. School children made banners calling for the development of a greenway. Community groups, not alone from Tuam but across the whole of east Galway, sports clubs, and those who prioritise the health and well-being of people in that region, were on the streets of Tuam that day saying that this makes absolute sense and should happen right now. Think of that, 27,000 people along that whole corridor said that this is what they want to happen for their children and for their future.

It galls me to think that we are somehow dismissing all of that and dismissing the ambition of a region. We have polarised. The Chair is right that two camps have emerged and I cannot see the logic of allowing that to happen where one camp says, "We are going to have a train or nothing", and in some people's eyes, another camp says, "We are going to have a greenway or nothing", which is inaccurate. The greenway campaign has always said, "Let's have both." This is my deepest fear and why I want to see the Department's officials in here. I want a timeline for the western rail corridor to reopen. If it is going to happen, when it will happen? I want to know why the Department has invested nearly €400,000 in a feasibility study for a greenway that is now lying in abeyance. I want a budget for the reopening of the western rail corridor.

Irish Rail itself published its national rail freight strategy last year to take us from now to 2040. Read it. There is not one single line about the western rail corridor. There is the development of a rail freight hub at Athenry station to take in freight by road on the M17, M18 and M6 into Athenry, then, if needs be, to put it on the rail freight service to wherever it needs to go.

Right now there is a rail freight service from Mayo through Athlone to all of our ports. There is one train per day. That is the number of freight trains that leave Mayo every day. It is ten, 15 or 20 but one. Let us be realistic here about using this line right now, and not in ten or 15 years' time, to bring the greatest benefit to the region. It would be deeply irresponsible of us as politicians. What it needs to be about is the art of the possible and not about leaving that line rotting, with weeds growing on it for the next ten years. I do not want to be sitting here in ten years' time and telling these people, "We did our best but what could we do other than hold up our hands in frustration." We cannot allow that to happen. We need to get those officials in here as soon as possible - we are really grateful to have this opportunity - to determine what exactly their plans are and to ask them to give us a timeline, a budget, something to cling on to and a bit of hope.