Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I agree with the Minister that in the past it seemed that only long distance rail freight was economically viable. However, change is now occurring. Does the Minister accept that this situation will almost certainly change further for environmental reasons? Road freight will become increasingly expensive as petrol costs grow because we will probably have increasing supply instability in the future. It would thus be folly on our part to allow what is currently going on, which in effect is the disposing of capacity by Iarnród Éireann, the selling off of almost new wagons, the removal of track and so on. Will the Minister agree to stop this? It may be five, ten or 20 years before it becomes economically viable but some day we will reap the folly of that if we allow this to go on.

The Minister said that one operator came along and then left because he could not get private sector people interested. Just because one operator fails to do his marketing should not be a reason to write the market off for everyone. Will the Minister act as a regulator and not refer interested parties to negotiate with CIE, which has made it clear to those who approached it in the past that it does not want competition? It is up to the Minister to ensure the opportunities exist when we have full liberalisation. I am delighted to hear there is an operator interested but it is up to the Minister to ensure that we capitalise on that opportunity.

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