Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I can put on the record, because it is already known, that the company which came and did the deal, and publicly stated that Iarnród Éireann did everything to facilitate it, was the Norfolk Line which runs major railways internationally. I was at the meeting, which was not organised by me, where it made its statement. The problem is that getting the unit load from the factory door to where the railhead is, getting it on, storing it, getting it off and organising its collection at the other end, involves a truck. Those costs become prohibitive. That is the difficulty. The point made by Deputies Ryan and Mitchell is an interesting one and it is correct. As we put more pressure on our environmental issues there may well be a cost benefit to operators looking back to rail. That is the reason we have made huge investment in the infrastructure. No rail infrastructure will ever be removed again, certainly as long as Fianna Fáil is in Government. That is the reason we have invested to date.

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