Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach. We need a bit more in the west than just a desire to do something. We need a commitment on it. It is very important that a commitment is made. As the Taoiseach stated, politically, everybody wants to do the rail network. It is actually part of our climate action plan to make sure transportation and production within plants are all done in a way that saves on CO2 emissions. The most important and pertinent point, however, is that when a global company such as Intel puts out a finger and states that, out of ten places worldwide, it is looking at Galway and the west of Ireland, we should consider what it would mean if it did come to the region. We must consider what needs to be done to make sure that if it does come, we are ready to support it and make sure it is viable. If it does not come, we have to make sure that we are ready for the next global organisation to look at the region. We have already had the case of Apple, which was attracted to Athenry and still is. There are a significant number of medical technology companies in Galway, but what is happening is that every one of those workers coming in from the east of the county has to travel to work by road. We are talking about taking cars and lorries off the roads. We have an ideal opportunity with the western rail corridor to make sure we deliver the goods and services to Intel in a way that meets our climate action plan as well. It is ready to be done. No planning permission or anything else is needed. It would be a good stamp for this Government to put desire into action and to get it going.

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