Mr. Garret Doocey:

I thank the Deputy for those questions and observations. I will start with her second question to provide some of the context to the overall position. I agree that it has taken a while to get from the launch of the rail review to where we are today. We had hoped and expected to be in a position to publish much earlier than now; however, we are where we are in some respects. The report was published in full last year in draft from. I acknowledge that the Deputy stated that. It was published in full with all the supporting documentation and analysis underpinning the draft recommendations. It was published for the purpose of consultation, primarily for strategic environmental assessment purposes, and it was open to people to make observations. Observations were made on all elements of the rail review and this has allowed us to bring the review, in terms of the environmental assessments, to the appropriate point. We are now getting ready to submit the report to the Government for approval, as the Minister outlined last week or the week before in the Dáil. I cannot quite remember when. It is a matter of putting all shoulders to the wheel to have it approved as soon as possible. We are just in the process of preparation of a memorandum for Government, etc. With regard to timelines, that is where we are at. It is a matter of proceeding as quickly as possible.

On the Sligo element, the rail review as published for public consultation did not propose a reinstatement of the line the Deputy referred to, as outlined in my opening statement. There is a greenway proposal in train – pardon the pun – and it is in phase 2. That project is progressing through the eight-stage process. That is the current status of the greenway on the corridor in question.