Mr. Barry Kenny:

As I said earlier, we ultimately want to see the role of rail maximised throughout the country, including on that alignment. We have to work in the public policy environment we are presented with, which right now, again in draft form, would indicate reasonably long term that that is not happening. In any engagements we have with Sligo County Council or elsewhere where such matters are being decided, we would be very clear that if it is a route we want to go in the public policy context, then it is with that six-month licence clause of operations. It would be a matter for the local authority or other local authorities to decide to approach it on a parallel alignment or another alignment they wish. There is obviously a cost differential if that were the decision the local authority were to make for that project because the alignment there is a public one and a licence model. There are no land acquisition costs but we must work in the public policy context we are presented with. We recognise that context can change and I give the example of the south Wexford line, where local authorities, until relatively recently, worked on the assumption that its return was very unlikely and were examining with us options for a greenway. The great imperative now is that, since Rosslare port has grown so much, the potential for passenger and freight travel that exists there is now included in the all-island strategic rail review and is re-established as rail. Until shovels are in the ground, things can change, but you can only work in the public policy environment you are in right now. It is probably the implications and questions for those who propose greenways to decide whether it is worth going down that route.