Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

If the Deputy did his research properly, he would know that I was referring to specific types of new operators who were trying to use the rail system. They encouraged many of their customers to use rail freight into the Port of Waterford. However, the customers were not willing to get involved because they regarded it as too cumbersome and too expensive, even though both Iarnród Éireann and Norfolkline together had worked very hard to set up a very good service.

I emphasise that rail and rail freight has a contribution to make to a sustainable transport policy. That is not in doubt. I was very pleased yesterday to see the new passenger trains arrive in the country. These trains meet the 2012 emissions standards which we are proudly achieving in 2007. We should all be very pleased with this, not just in an Irish sense but also in a European sense.

To suggest we have no specific policies in place to deal with the development of a sustainable policy area in this country in terms of using bio-fuels in transport is wrong. Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus are becoming involved in using bio-fuels. They can use a 5% mix for their existing fleet and we hope to increase that figure to 30% for newer buses. Deputies seem to suggest that all of these systems and buses are in place in other countries and it is only a matter of buying them. That is not the case. I do not present myself as an expert but, because I am Minister for Transport, I must try to read up on and study these matters. It surprised me to discover recently that while there is great benefit in using bio-fuels to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, nitrous oxide emissions go through the roof. We gain on one side but lose substantially on the other, an interesting fact of which I was unaware until recently.

We all need to educate ourselves and understand what we are saying in the debate. It is easy to latch onto the latest fad, the new and popular buzz words and the new phrases. Half of the time, it is a load of baloney because nobody has done the research to know what we are talking about.

Under Transport 21 this country is making substantial investment in public transport, the rail network and the road network, and rightly so. All of this contributes to a sustainable transport system which brings great benefits in terms of emissions, safety and the movement of goods and people throughout our island in a much better way than was ever achieved in the past.

Members are correct that up to 1997 the rail network was almost redundant. It is under this Government that the network has been restored and huge investment has been made. This year alone we are spending over €770 million on public transport. I suggest, as somebody else suggested in another debate in which I was involved this evening, that we go back to the Labour and Fine Gael policies with regard to investment in road and rail in 1997 — they will make stark reading for colleagues on the other side of the House — and compare them with the Fianna Fáil manifesto of 1997.

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