Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy misunderstands how rail freight operates. There is a problem in this country in this regard. In terms of freight going onto rail, it usually works over long distances carrying heavy bulk, which is not Ireland. This is part of the problem.

I will give the Deputy an example. In the past 12 months, a major shipping company persuaded Iarnród Éireann to put on extra rail journeys to carry a substantial amount of cargo to a port. In fairness to Iarnród Éireann, it decided that as it was a very innovative and excellent request it would provide the service in a cost-efficient manner. This was all said publicly by the private operator. However, the private operator had to admit that the project was an entire failure because the private sector companies were not interested. They could not persuade private sector companies to put their product on rail freight, even though Iarnród Éireann provided the service at great cost. We must not say that Iarnród Éireann has not been innovative in trying to provide new services.

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