Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)

The Minister will not be surprised to learn that I do not share his optimism in respect of his initiatives pertaining to rural transport. Would he accept that his much-vaunted initiative on the western rail corridor actually concerns a western rail hallway? It does not come close to being a corridor, which would extend from Cork to Sligo. Currently, given the continuation of a radial system in and out of Dublin, one should not be obliged to go from Cork to Limerick via Tipperary or from Cork to Galway via Portarlington. What efforts has the Minister made to secure the railway line between Charleville and Limerick? Currently, there is a planning application to build a bungalow on the line at Bruff in County Limerick. What does Transport 21 contain in respect of rural buses? What effort has the Minister made to mainstream the rural link transport initiative? Is this not simply a glossy brochure that maintains things as they are and does not invest resources where they are required? The access to public transport of people in rural communities will be as poor as ever. For those who have had the promise of the opening of part of the western rail corridor dangled before them, is the deadline of 2014 unlikely to be met?

See this speech in context