Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Before I let Deputy Harkin back in, I will come in. I represent east Cork. I have the benefit of the fact that it took us nearly 15 years to get the Cork-Midleton line reinstated. That line used to go to Youghal. We had many well-attended public meetings on restoring the rail line to Youghal and, obviously, taking traffic off the N25. At the time, obviously, it came down to money and development charges, which makes it very difficult to reinstate it. I was listening to the other contributors and made a few notes. They were on about costs, etc. We were told at the time, because of the original costs, that Midleton to Youghal was not viable at the time and the alternative was a greenway.

By creating a greenway, it is cost neutral to put the tracks back on it afterwards. Also, and I have not heard anybody ask, are these proposed greenways on a lease? Apparently, greenways are on a lease down our way so there is a chance of flipping it back up.

Obviously the demand exists, and I have been lobbied many times by very many people, especially all along the route from Midleton to Youghal. I agree with them that by getting connectivity back and opening up these rail corridors, it encourages outward growth, towns definitely benefit from it, the carbon footprint is reduced because cars are off the road, plus tourism is huge in my area. You are visiting Youghal, which is by the sea. It is kind of a no-brainer. There is a need to explain to people that creating a greenway takes time when people work together, because I have heard some say that there does not seem to be the joined-up aspect. I read the draft all-island strategic report because I had been on to TII, or it could have been the NTA at the time, because we do not have a joined-up railway link between Midleton and Youghal, and I asked could they not put in a park-and-ride and have the bus go from Youghal to the train station in Midleton as a connective corridor while the greenway was being built. The greenway is absolutely jammed. I have never seen so many cars in the carpark on any day I visited. There are benefits of a greenway as well but it is just trying to get the balance. In an ideal world you would love the railway and greenway going together.

Sitting on the outside, because I am conscious there are witnesses in the Gallery, I wonder how you are going to find a balance between it. Mr. Doocey is right. You have the county development plans. They are the blueprint of democratically elected councillors who sign off on that. They are on a separate plan, there is the Department's own one, and then you have the all-island strategic rail plan that is only after coming out after it being written about five times. Again, possibly it was the TII that said it was not envisaged that a park-and-ride would be put in and we would get connectivity in east Cork from Youghal to Midleton, yet in the strategic draft report, it is mentioned it five times. It also mentioned putting back the railway line from Midleton to Youghal. It seems to be very scattered. It seems like, and pardon the pun, that there are three trains running on three separate tracks and none of them are ever going to cross. I think, and this is only me coming from my side of it, that there has to be a serious review of how county councils and Department work, because once they are coming up with these all-island strategies for connectivity, I do not think you are going to get a solution. That is where everybody seems to be because I heard Mr. Doocey saying that if it is not in a county development plan, it is not meant to be. If it is not mentioned, there is no opportunity to get grant funding for it. Does Mr. Doocey know what I am saying?

I looked at it and we are in a place where it is greenway versus railway, but it is good for both, so how do we find that balance? I am sitting here listening as a neutral but I have seen the experience in my area of the benefits of a greenway and the benefits of the connectivity of the railway. Neither seems to outweigh each other but I feel both of them should be put together. I know what Mr. Doocey is saying about money and costs and if you keep delaying things, the costs go up over the years, but what is the cost-benefit of having proper rail corridors in the country? What is the cost-benefit of having proper greenways? You exercise for the good of your mental health and everything. I have seen the benefits of both, but it is not for me to make the decision here. As the observer, all I would say is I think there is a long way to go before we start finding a balance between what everybody needs to get here.

I will hand back to Mr. Doocey before I hand it over to the members.