Mr. Garret Doocey:

I thank the Deputy. The focus of the national development plan sectoral plan is the next five years. As the Deputy is aware, we did publish the all-island strategic rail review that looks out to 2050 and establishes a vision for the rail network we want to see happen over the short, medium and longer term. Included within that is a new rail link crossing through County Monaghan and continuing into the North as well. The all-island strategic rail review outlines a high-level indicative programme of potential scheduling for those interventions. In the interim, we have been working with the EIB in developing what might be the prioritised interventions over the next ten to 15 years in terms of moving from where we are to construction. A rail line, therefore, is proposed in the all-island strategic rail review that crosses through County Monaghan and into the North, but it is a longer term ambition.