Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad we have the opportunity to debate this in the House so I can expand on the reply which I gave in written form to Deputy Wallace. It is a bit of a straw man that he is putting up. He is saying that another consultant produced figures which would indicate there was a good case for closing this line. Let me say one thing. While we can argue this until the cows come home, including the merits of the various consultants, I and the Taoiseach have said there is no intention whatsoever to close rail lines. That is Government policy. To say the idea of closing a rail line is abominable is something the Government and the Deputy share. However, we are the ones who make that decision, as Government policy, and it is not Government policy to close any rail lines, which includes the Rosslare to Dublin rail line.

I note that Deputy Wallace is concerned about this and he has every right to be because it is his constituency and he is doing the right thing. However, whereas, as he suggests, the Dublin-Rosslare, Limerick-Galway, Limerick Junction-Waterford and Limerick-Ballybrophy lines were the ones which came out worst in the review, there is no intention to close any of those rail lines, despite the findings. We recognise the need of people for railways and we recognise the need to run what are, in certain cases, very uneconomic rail lines.

That may not be a good commercial decision, but it is a good social decision, and it is Government policy that these rail lines, despite the findings of the rail review, will not be closed.

This review was undertaken jointly by the National Transport Authority, NTA, and Iarnród Éireann and was published in 2016. The purpose of the review was to look at the existing rail network, identify the funding required both to maintain the network and to provide the necessary capital works and to consider the gap in funding. The review also examined the potential of the rail network to meet the economic, environmental and social needs of the State in the future and discussed the importance of maintaining a rail network to support sustainable strategic growth in travel demand. The review highlighted the considerable amount of taxpayer support currently provided to the rail network. It also provided an overview of the estimated amount of additional funding needed to support the network over the period from 2016 to 2021. My Department has consulted the NTA on the matter raised by the Deputy and the authority has advised that it is not aware of any anomalies in the figures published in the 2016 rail review, despite what the Deputy says. The NTA has stated that it is confident that the route profitability methodology used by experienced consultants on behalf of the authority and Iarnród Éireann is robust and suitable for the comparative analysis that was carried out. The review identified a funding gap for Irish rail of the order of €100 million per annum at that time.

I am glad to point out that since the report was published in 2016, the Government has announced significant additional funding for rail infrastructure and services, which is addressing the funding requirement. Public service obligation, PSO, subvention increased in 2016 and 2017 and is increasing further this year. Over those three years, PSO subvention will be increased by some 35%. In budget 2017 alone, we allocated over €50 million in additional funding to Irish Rail, bringing the total amount for the year to over €300 million. This significant increase in funding allows for increasing investment in maintenance and renewal of the network and the rolling stock, and also provides more funding for safety projects. On the capital side, in budget 2018 we announced €2.7 billion of Exchequer investment in public transport infrastructure and facilities over the next four years. The recently published ten year national development plan will prioritise key investment actions that protect the quality and value of the existing extensive transport networks and progress new key capital public transport programmes over the years leading up to 2027.

The public consultation process held by the NTA following the publication of the review helped to begin an informed discussion about the current and future role of rail transport in Ireland. More than 300 submissions were received in response to that consultation process.

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