Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Sinn Féin for introducing the motion, which gives us an opportunity to discuss infrastructure. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is aware of my passion for the western rail corridor and I will take a few minutes to speak about that initially. There is a lot of confusion about what we are trying to do but, in a nutshell, we have rail connectivity from north Mayo as far as Claremorris, and then it takes off eastwards towards Dublin. We have rail connectivity from Galway to Athenry and the service goes down along the south coast and complements the western rail corridor, phase 1, which was opened in 2011. This is the fastest growing rail line for commuter passengers in Ireland currently, with more than 500,000 passengers last year. Phases 2 and 3, which would link Athenry to Tuam and on to Claremorris, are left as a void. This connectivity would bring together Galway and Mayo. It would also bring together Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Waterford in terms of rail freight. It is a very simple project, which is shovel-ready, in other words, it does not need planning permission or consent from anybody. It is a replacement of the railway track from Athenry to Claremorris. What would that do for the economy, balanced regional development and every one of us who lives in this area, including both the Ministers of State who are present?

By providing such connectivity, we are opening up the potential for rail freight as part of our carbon emissions targets. At the moment, we run rail freight from Ballina, right through the congested lines at night, to bring it down to Waterford and Dublin Airport. We are trying to develop a port in Foynes, to make it a flagship for offshore wind development, but we must also develop Galway Port and establish connectivity with it. We also need connectivity with Cork and Waterford and to open up the western rail corridor. The corridor has been supported by the Atlantic economic corridor task force, Chambers Ireland and the local authorities in Galway and Mayo. I dare say it is probably supported by every political party in this House. The only thing that is holding it up is the absence of the willingness to do it.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is passionate about doing the western rail corridor. He is doing an all-island review at the moment to try to bring together a full strategy for rail. I accept what he is doing, but I believe there is an opportunity for the Government to put its stamp on regional Ireland and take out of the equation the mantra that we are not doing anything for the west, the north west or the mid-west. We have a situation where we can positively discriminate in our investment in the region. According to the European Union, we are a region in transition and we can tap into a 60% share from Structural Funds to make projects like this happen.

We should use this as an opportunity to develop the area.

One of the most unique things is that there is some resistance to it but I think that resistance comes from within a Department which has control of transport. I do not know why, but it just does not seem to get that what we are trying to do is develop Ireland. I live, work and have my constituency office in Tuam and that is where I went to school. Tuam is the largest town in County Galway. If we build out this network, we will be reconnecting Tuam to the national rail network. The western rail corridor is unique in the sense that it is probably the only piece of infrastructure that does not link into Dublin, so it has great potential. We need to make sure that we can link Westport, Ballina and Claremorris to Galway and Tuam, then down to Ennis and along to Limerick and Cork. We have to look at the potential for tourism development in all of this. We have to look at the idea that we can bring tourists into Shannon and Knock airports and get them around the region, using the brand of the Wild Atlantic Way and using the western rail corridor as a mode of transport for them.

It is very important that we take this on board in a positive way and that we are brave about it. Some people will say that rail is a thing of the past. In what we are doing in terms of climate action and changing our whole approach to living in order to save the world, one of the key potentials we have is rail transport. What I mean is that we take the trucks off the road and put the containers onto rail freight. Companies are demanding that so they are running their businesses in a way that meets their green carbon targets. That is the potential that is there but, for one reason or another, successive Governments have never supported the idea of rail freight in Ireland. It has only happened through the efforts of a certain few people who have produced much of the rail freight from Ballina down to Waterford, against the grain and against a lot of resistance from within Departments. We do not subsidise it. About €2.5 million is contributed from the Exchequer to Irish Rail annually but a levy is then put on top which ensures it does not make any money. It is hilarious what is going on there.

It is also important that we think about this. When we talk about tourism, there are companies in Ireland doing rail tourism and they rely on lines like the western rail corridor to make sure we further realise the potential on the west coast, from Cork up to Donegal. It is important that we take that on board. In phases 2 and 3 of the western rail corridor, we have a gem of a tourism attraction, which is Ballyglunin station, the location of the film "The Quiet Man" that was made many years ago. Even today, businesses like Ashford Castle are bussing tourists over to that station as an attraction. It has a powerful attraction. Would it not be great if we could run trains from Galway out there with tourists on a day trip? It is a place where the local community are refurbishing the station, turning it into a museum and also into a broadband connection point and digital hub, which is bringing innovation and history together in a museum.

We have the potential right on our doorsteps to do this. From the point of view of the west of Ireland, it is important that we create this linkage and get rid of the stigma that we are not supporting the west. We can put funding into the area but when we talk in the national development plan about a cancer treatment facility in Galway for the west of Ireland which services Donegal down as far as Limerick, we need to have the public transport for people to access that. What better way to do it than by train? People can travel and work on the train, and there are many benefits to doing this, for example, it is the safest mode of transport. The only thing that is missing is the fact we just do not seem able to get it to a stage where we can start the work.

This is something the Government and political representatives in the west have to consider seriously. We have to work together to make sure we do this. This will create the linkage and create the spine for the activity that is needed if we are to survive and grow out of being just a region in transition. As I said, it has the support of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, the Border, Midland and Western Regional Assembly and the Southern Regional Assembly. It also has the support of local authorities and all of the business communities. The only thing that is missing is the Department of Transport, which needs to come out of the dark ages and to see how, under phase 1, this is the fastest-growing line in Ireland in terms of rail transport. Phases 2 and 3 will only add to that, and we will only see the full benefit when we link it all together.

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