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

I am very much supportive of the rail line. I appreciate the interest of Deputies Guirke and O'Rourke therein. The key point Deputy Guirke made that makes the case for the rail line is that the local authority is keen, in its development plan review, to really make it work and help deliver it.

The key thing we need to do in transport now is what is called "transport-led development", whereby new housing, communities and infrastructure are placed beside high-quality public transport infrastructure. That is the key next-stage approach. The review of the greater Dublin transport strategy will proceed. The National Transport Authority and others will examine the specifics regarding the Navan rail line but what will make it happen is the economics that come when the hands of housing and the hands of transport work together. I understand Meath County Council has plans that reflect very extensive population growth. It has to be sustainable and new developments have to be located close to the stations and connected to good local access travel systems. That is the way forward. If Meath County Council is following, in its development plan, an approach to back up the transport infrastructure that a rail line would bring, it would get it over the line. That is the key point.

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