Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We had a meeting of the multi-stakeholder forum on 10 July. It was a very successful and constructive meeting with representatives of all the unions, including the chief of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU. That resulted in an agreement that they would send suggestions to me about how the forum would work. I am awaiting some of those. I am absolutely committed to doing this. We will not be holding a stakeholder forum under the threat of a strike or industrial dispute. It would be inappropriate to do so because that would dominate the proceedings.

The purpose of the stakeholder forum is to hear the views of all those, particularly the workforce and management but also the National Transport Authority, NTA, and others, on the future of transport in this country. That will gel very well with the fact that the report and the public consultation on the rail review will come together and be considered by Government and by me. Decisions will be made on that basis. We have, however, to bear in mind the national planning framework when we make those decisions. It would be crazy to make decisions on the future of individual railway lines or rail in this country without considering the report of the national planning framework which is coming shortly.

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