Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I am afraid it feels like a point of no return. It is something that has been closely monitored by people with an interest in this route over the years. It feels a little like a managed decline. I am also worried that we will end up tearing out an excellent and strategic piece of infrastructure with a view to developing a greenway on it. We have a EuroVelo route which has been developed by Wexford County Council and runs from Rosslare Europort to the Ballyhack ferry, which transports people over onto Passage East and into Waterford. It would be a much better use of resources to develop that EuroVelo route to a higher standard and to develop a corridor from Passage East into Waterford city, which would also be an important commuting corridor along the Dunmore road. Significant funding, some €58,000 if I am correct, has been allocated for the design phase of this greenway. I am open to the concept of side by side but the Barrow Bridge would make side-by-side development of a greenway route very difficult.

When we think about rail infrastructure in general, and the Minister is conscious of this as well, we should be mindful that while there is a significant cost to upgrading and maintaining this route, it is certainly a fraction of what it would cost to build this infrastructure from scratch. We should not be aiming towards a managed decline of infrastructure. Heavy rail bridges such as this can discharge freight capacity as well as commuter capacity. It can be moved to low emissions or zero emissions relatively easily compared with haulage traffic. I am anxious that we have a review of this route in the short to medium term to consider how we can make it practically viable for people, not just commuters but also freight and tourist traffic that will be emanating from Rosslare Europort.

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