Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the exclusion of the north west from Trans-European Transport Network, Ten-T, core funding and seek answers from the Minister on a grave injustice perpetrated against the people of the north west by his Government and a decision taken by Fine Gael in government which has massively disadvantaged the economy in the north west for decades to come.

The Trans-European Transport Network is a European Commission policy directed towards the implementation and development of a Europe-wide network of roads, railway lines, inland waterways, maritime shipping routes, ports, airports and railroad terminals. It consists of two planning layers, the first being a comprehensive network covering all European regions and accounting for 5% of the funding available. The second and most important part is the core network, consisting of the most important connections within the comprehensive network, linking the most important nodes and accounting for 80% of funding available. The remaining 15% is reserved for projects of common interest. To complete the TEN-T core network corridors by 2030 will require approximately €750 billion. However, the north west is precluded from applying for that funding.

The key issue is that to qualify as a core network and receive core funding, an area had to have both a road and rail link. Information I have received shows that in 2011 the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, who was then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, purposely removed key transport projects in the north west from Ireland’s application to the European Union’s Ten-T funding programme and effectively wiped the north west off the core map.

The western rail corridor was removed from the core network map by the then Minister, now Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar. That relegated the western arc, the road running from Cork to Derry, to the comprehensive funding box because without the rail link, the road network could not qualify for core funding. Remarkably, when the western rail corridor was taken off the map, Shannon Foynes Port was added and the rail link between Limerick and Foynes was put in in order that Shannon Foynes Port could qualify for core funding. The Navan to Dublin rail link was also included. It is clear, therefore, that there was money for some projects but not for all. The effect of removing the western rail corridor and relegating the western arc road to the comprehensive funding box meant that key transport infrastructural projects in the north west were also precluded from receiving funding up to 2030. That affected Galway Port, Ireland West Airport Knock, Killybegs Port and Sligo Airport in applying for core funding under the TEN-T programme. It is hard to believe all this happened on the watch of a Mayo Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, and a Fine Gael Minister, Deputy Michael Ring, who was a Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport at the time.

The projects had been included by the previous Fianna Fáil Government prior to leaving office in 2011. The western rail corridor which was to extend into Claremorris, County Mayo had been completed from Limerick to Galway and was to be extended to County Mayo in two phases. Ballina is the busiest freight location in the country and it beggars belief that the line was not prioritised, given the hugely positive economic impact it would have had on the county and the region. The maps initiated by Fianna Fáil when in government which included the north west and County Mayo were redrawn by Fine Gael and the then Minister, now Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, in 2011 and prioritised road, rail, port and airport infrastructure for Dublin, Cork and Limerick, with a link to Belfast, while everything north of Limerick - the entire north-west region - was excluded. There really are few words to describe the devastating impact that has had on the region's economic development. Remarkably, at the time the then Fine Gael MEP for the north west, Jim Higgins, warned his colleague, Deputy Leo Varadkar, that it could close off the projects to future EU funding for good. It is a warning the now Taoiseach chose to ignore.

The western economic arc, the road from Cork to Derry, is still included on the comprehensive funding map which only accounts for 5% of funding, but if one looks at Ireland 2040 - it was called the fantastic plan - that was launched by the Government, the road is not mentioned. How does the Minister explain this? Where is the Government's commitment to this road network? It seems that all we are getting is a small section upgraded around Collooney in County Sligo. Perhaps we should be satisfied with the small crumbs we in the north west get from the Government.

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