Dáil debates
Thursday, 17 June 2021
Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Rail Network
9:25 am
Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source
It will take additional funding and I appreciated Sinn Féin's support yesterday. It is conditional support and there will be hard choices that will have to take place over 30 years when we have to get net zero. We will have choices because we will be looking for funding for the rail extension in Wicklow as we have just heard. We will be looking for the likes of the extension of the Luas to Fingal. We need rail stations across Limerick, which I am sure Sinn Féin and the Green Party will be looking for funding for. We also have massive public funding requirements for housing as we all know. There are a lot of tough choices to be made.
Putting housing and transport together is the one that always makes sense to me. That is why I have been supportive of the Navan rail line. It has the potential to start concentrating development in Meath, which is growing rapidly, close to public transport stations. It is in the context of this wider review that we will do this. It is also in the context of the NDP review, which will only look at this decade, but we have to do it in the context of where we are going to in 2050, which is net zero. That is a modal shift to electrification and reducing the amount of travel. This and a range of other projects will be key to that.
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