Dáil debates

Thursday, 25 February 2021

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

 

12:30 pm

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

Looking forward to 2040, we absolutely need a metro system, BusConnects, DART+ and various other projects in Dublin. My colleagues in government know that in any meeting I have, my first priority is, as I told Deputy Verona Murphy, the national planning framework. We need better balanced, more compact and low-carbon development in this country. My first priority should be to look at the likes of Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick and put in infrastructural investment to see those cities grow beyond anything we have seen in the past 40 years. I agree with the Deputy that investment needs to be made in Limerick and the Shannon area in general. I would start in Foynes Port where, as the Deputy said, there is huge potential and very deep waters. The port is located close to the offshore wind power resources that we know we are going to develop. That gives us the potential for industrial development in the area, using the power as it comes ashore rather than shipping it to another location on the east coast. We should put the industry where the power exists. We will need infrastructure for rail freight because I believe that zinc deposits in the region could well be used and will have to be moved by rail rather than road. We will reopen the Foynes rail line and not at considerable cost because the line is there. When we are doing that, we will look at the other four underused rail lines in Limerick and look to put in stations at key points across the city and region, including at Shannon Airport, Moyross, Corbally and a range of other stations across and around the city. That would accommodate what we want, which is transport-led, compact and high-quality development where we can put in new housing. That is my first priority and we need it.

We will get the metro and BusConnects and have done good work on those two. We have not done the work in Limerick yet but we are doing it now. In the review of the national development plan, it is that sort of investment that I hope turns everyone around to thinking that is the clever way of developing Limerick. We can put housing beside the infrastructure and use the advantages of the region. That would benefit not only Limerick but also the wider region because we all know that if that infrastructure is put in, tourism starts to work better to the benefit of Clare and Tipperary. Let us have a vision of a metropolitan region that would extend as far as Nenagh. There should be a fast, low-carbon electric train service. That is all doable. The planning time will not be long because the rail lines are there and all we need to do is to put in the stations. My colleague, Deputy Matthews, tells me that Irish Rail has real capability and plans that we can take off the shelf. We could do that work at the same time we develop stations in Cork. They can be delivered at low cost and built quickly because there are not planning delays and high costs. We will use the existing infrastructure well. That infrastructure was built almost 100 years ago but it still works. We can upgrade it today to make Limerick a 21st century city fit for the future.

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