Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach advised me yesterday that, in his view, the problem with air quality in Dublin is down to diesel cars. A promise was given by the Government of which he and I were both members, as had been given by the previous Government, to electrify the railway lines to Maynooth. If the Taoiseach is concerned about diesel cars, the only way of getting a significant number of those cars off the road is to develop public transport. However, there has been neither sight nor sound of a project to electrify the Dublin to Maynooth railway line. It seems to have been put out to the back end of 2040. The Taoiseach probably knows, as he uses the line from time to time, that when one gets to stations such as Ashtown and Pelletstown, it is almost impossible and even physically dangerous in the case of a pregnant woman, for instance, to get on the train and access the railway carriages. It is also impossible to board at Broombridge.

I do not want a list of the things the Government of which we were both members did. It did quite a lot, including extending the Luas line to Broombridge. That project was championed by the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and me over a long period of time. When will the capacity of the railway lines increase, given that can only come about if they are electrified? It would also enable significant numbers of houses to be built in the Kildare area at a much cheaper price than is currently available in Dublin city. The Government is sitting on its hands with promises of "mañana,mañana" and no action at all is being taken.

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