Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The debate on these issues has to be reasoned and there must be an economic argument behind it. As I understand it, Iarnród Éireann has commissioned a study by AECOM to look at the future of rail freight. That will be available at the same time as we publish the JASPERS study and the EY-DKM study on the Claremorris-Athenry link. We must be real about this. At the moment, it is mainly fertiliser and other bulk goods coming into Foynes. We have to look at port strategy, which is connected to the rail issue. We need to consider which products would be suited to rail freight transport. In Ballina, for example, it works for Coca-Cola's operations and it also worked in the past for the former Asahi factory. The same is true with sugar beet and so on at Tuam. We have to consider issues such as the development of forestry. We are moving forestry products up and down the country on a road haulage basis. Could some of that be switched to rail freight? I believe it could and I am interested to see what the Iarnród Éireann report will find in terms of what systems are available.

The EY-DKM report and other reports argue that the distances are too short in Ireland for rail freight to work and that such systems only work where there are long-distance rail freight trips. My understanding is that the EU is changing its position in this regard. In the case of the development of a europort at Foynes, the requirement for a rail freight solution is because Europe is saying that as part of its low-carbon future, we must switch to rail freight and start designing around it. If I were to go to the Minister for Finance and say I want to build a new rail line from Ballina that extends right up to Sligo and right down to Waterford, I would be told it was a mad idea that would cost €5 billion or €10 billion and it could not possibly be done. However, it would be a different prospect if I were to say to him that we have an existing underused rail line running through Waterford, Clonmel, Tipperary town, Bansha, Limerick Junction and all the way up that has just two small sections missing. In the case of the first, from Limerick to Foynes, a station could be put in at Dooradoye and another at Adare. The second missing section, the Athenry-Claremorris line, is relatively small and there would be no real difficulty in redeveloping it.

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