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

I am very glad to talk about the expansion of public transport in the south Wicklow area. I am not just talking about rail but also the wider context. It is important that we take a multi-modal approach to transport planning and the provision and integration of public transport services and infrastructure. That approach is evident in the statutory transport strategy for the wider greater Dublin area, which includes south Wicklow and which the National Transport Authority is required to prepare under the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008. The Act requires the NTA to develop a 20-year multi-modal strategy and requires it to review and update the strategy every six years to take account of developments and revise the strategy as needed. The current strategy sets out a range of proposed interventions required across all modes and progress is under way on a number of those interventions. These include the DART+, which will provide enhanced capacity as far as Greystones but could provide associated benefits as far south as Wicklow, and the N11 bus priority project, which will seek to enhance bus priority along this route and enhance the attractiveness of the bus as an option for south Wicklow commuters.

Specifically looking at rail, aspects of the Wicklow rail line are challenging and potentially susceptible to coastal erosion. That is why my Department, through the NTA, is funding a programme of works over the coming years to protect the existing railway line from coastal flooding and coastal erosion and improve the reliability and availability of the existing rail services across County Wicklow. In addition to the above, there are two reviews under way which are of relevance to potential further improvements to rail in the county. The first is the ongoing review of the transport strategy for the greater Dublin area, which is under way with a draft strategy to be published by the NTA later in the year for public consultation. The second is a strategic rail review, which my Department is leading on and which will look at inter-urban and inter-regional rail and will be of relevance to south Wicklow, given the intercity services that operate on the line.

See this speech in context