Mr. Hugh Creegan:

Light rail needs a certain density of development to support it economically. It is a very expensive mode to build. It costs €80 million, €90 million or €100 million per kilometre. When an area is below a certain density, we need to put bus and coach services in place. As the Deputy knows, the Connecting Ireland plan intends to connect all of these types of locations to the nearest urban centres, meaning local towns and larger centres. We have rolled out quite a bit. As the Deputy knows, what has been rolled out is well appreciated and successful. We accept there is more to be done. All of these things cost money. That is what we are going to need in the years ahead. The answer from our point of view is to roll out Connecting Ireland and enhance it further.