Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

In the greater Dublin area it will put in place an integrated public transport system, to which there are a number of elements. Two metro lines are planned, metro north and metro west. Metro north will be completed six years from now in 2012 and will make it possible to travel from Dublin Airport to the city centre in 17 minutes. Metro west will be a western orbital route around the outer suburbs of Dublin, linking with metro north and extending from there to Blanchardstown, Lucan, Clondalkin and Tallaght. Metro west will be completed in four phases by 2014.

The two very successful existing Luas lines carried over 20 million passengers in 2005, their first full year of operation. Transport 21 will fund seven new Luas projects extending and expanding the existing Luas network. The green line will be extended in the city centre to meet the red line and onwards to Liffey junction in the north of the city. Subject to developer contributions, the red line will also be extended westwards from Tallaght in 2008 to serve the Citywest area. Negotiations with developers are at an advanced stage.

Iarnród Éireann operates an extensive suburban rail system in the greater Dublin area. A fleet of over 100 modern diesel railcars operate commuter services from Dublin to Drogheda, Maynooth, Kildare and Wicklow, while the DART operates as far north as Malahide and as far south as Greystones.

Transport 21 will eliminate the capacity problem through a number of major projects, with which the House is very familiar. Two dedicated commuter lines will be provided on the Kildare line as part of the Kildare route project. Most important is Iarnród Éireann's interconnector project. This project involves the building by 2015 of an interconnector rail tunnel between Heuston Station and Dublin's docklands and has been described as the missing piece of the jigsaw that is Dublin's rail infrastructure.

In addition, the old Navan railway line will be reopened in two phases. Phase one will see a spur reopen in three years' time, in 2009, from the Maynooth line to Pace, which is just beyond Dunboyne. This will terminate at the Docklands station, pending completion of the interconnector project. Phase two will see this line extended in 2015 to Navan and the reopened Navan line will also form part of the greater Dublin area DART network.

The integrated rail system planned under Transport 21 has been designed to have integration at its core. It is designed in order that it will be possible to travel throughout the greater Dublin area rail network with no more than one change. I believe this will transform commuter transport systems in the greater Dublin area.

By the end of 2015, when the transport infrastructure funded under Transport 21 is completed and fully operational, I expect a fourfold increase in DART and suburban rail passenger numbers to 100 million per annum. I also expect 100 million passengers to travel on the Luas light rail network and metro lines.

The national strategy will also see significant enhancement of public transport services throughout the country. The upgrading of the national rail network will be completed under Transport 21. Apart from the inter-city network, Transport 21 will also fund new and expanded commuter rail services for Cork and Galway cities. Galway city will have its first dedicated commuter rail service from Athenry, while Cork city's commuter rail services will be expanded with the reopening of the Midleton railway line. The western rail corridor from Ennis to Claremorris will also be reopened in three phases and work on the first phase from Ennis to Athenry has already begun.

I have set out in detail the plans for public transport investment under Transport 21 to emphasise the major rebalancing that is taking place in transport investment. The major proportion of Transport 21 investment is devoted to roads, reflecting their importance to our transport and economic system. Such investment in roads will have a positive impact in respect of the elimination of congestion and bottlenecks. However, it should be acknowledged that Transport 21 is a balanced and integrated package of investment in both public transport and roads that will provide Ireland with a sustainable transport system.

The position regarding rail freight is that Iarnród Éireann has sought to return the rail freight business to a more sound economic footing. To help achieve this turnaround, Iarnród Éireann withdrew from loss-making groupage, palletised and single container rail transport. Iarnród Éireann has made progress in growing the rail freight business in areas in which it holds a competitive advantage over road haulage, such as in handling large volumes or trainloads over long distances.

For example, Iarnród Éireann has reintroduced the trainload pulpwood business by modifying surplus wagons and providing additional services for Coillte between the west of Ireland and the south east. It has altered its rail schedules and at present provides three additional trains per week for Tara Mines with a potential to carry an extra 85,000 tonnes of lead and zinc between Navan and Dublin Port per annum. It has modified surplus platform wagons to provide a trainload service for containers between Ballina and Waterford Port.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, has introduced the European Communities (Access to Railway Infrastructure) (Amendment) Regulations 2005, SI 780 of 2005, to implement EU Directive No. 2004/51 on the development of the Community's railways. These regulations open the freight market to competition from both domestic and foreign operators from 1 January 2006 in the case of international freight and from 1 January 2007 in the case of domestic freight operations.

Iarnród Éireann has undertaken extensive engagement with industry and transporters nationwide to try to identify long-term sustainable business opportunities. However, it has had genuine difficulty in identifying business opportunities that offer reasonable volumes of business on a regular basis. It is not feasible to run trains with one or two containers and Iarnród Éireann has not identified sufficient business, with the exception of the Ballina to Waterford stream, to group together a number of separate activities to form a viable trainload.

Most Irish industry is focused on "just in time" transport and as our road network continues to expand and improve, the role of rail freight becomes more problematic because all rail journeys involve road movements at each end of the logistics chain. Furthermore, distances in Ireland are short. The experience across Europe is no different in that rail freight activities are most economic when distances are long, there are large volumes to be transported or the freight to be carried is not time-sensitive.

As part of the engagement with industry, Iarnród Éireann works closely with port authorities to increase rail-based freight such as the transport of lead and zinc to Dublin and container traffic to Waterford. The Government's ports policy statement recognises the need for the integration of ports with other transport modes, including rail, as a fundamental link in the supply chain.

In the absence of opportunities or proposals for viable long-term rail freight business, the development and use of fiscal incentives has not been considered. While the Government is open to any views on how rail freight can be expanded, the business environment is such that I have not seen the identification of any real opportunities. The market for rail freight is now fully liberalised and if opportunities exist, I would welcome expressions of interest. Although the movement of goods by rail offers environmental benefits over the movement of goods by road, the real issues are distance and type of goods to be moved. Ireland has little heavy manufacturing industry. Moreover, distances are short and in this context, road scores over rail in terms of reduced journey time and less handling.

As for the issue of greenhouse gas emissions, it is important to put Ireland's performance into an overall context. In the past 15 years, Ireland's economy grew by more than 150%, while its greenhouse gas emissions grew by 25%. Consequently, for every unit of GDP, Ireland now produces emissions at 48% of their 1990 levels.

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