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

That discussion was very interesting. I remember being baffled when I looked at this in 2018. It is disappointing that, six years later, it is still so unclear. If clarity can be provided as we develop the final draft, that will be very welcome.

To go back to Senator Pauline O'Reilly's line of questioning on how specific projects were identified, in the context of roads and public transport and general commentary with respect to Limerick, key future growth enablers for Limerick are listed on page 46 of the document. Specific road projects are called out there but no specific rail projects are called out, despite the fact that the Limerick-Shannon metropolitan area transport strategy contains significant rail projects. Does the Department believe rail is not a significant future growth enabler for Limerick? I would argue that it absolutely is. If we build a rail connection from Shannon Airport to the national railway network as envisaged in the draft strategic rail review, it would not be particularly expensive as it is costed at approximately €100 to €200 million at 2021 prices. That would very significantly drive growth in the Shannon-Limerick axis. I do not understand why rail is not specifically called out here. There is greater growth potential with rail investment than there is with road investment. One of key future growth enablers listed is, “Enhanced regional connectivity through improved average journey times by road to Cork and Waterford.” I do not know why rail is left out of that. Why not state that improved average journey times by rail are a key future growth enabler between Limerick and other cities?