Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. It is utterly shameful that the western rail corridor connecting Athenry, Tuam, Milltown and, ultimately, Enniskillen, if it is extended all of the way, a vital piece of public infrastructure, has been left to rot for the past 40 years. It is bringing no economic benefit whatsoever to the west of Ireland and to my constituency.

What we simply need to do here is to make a decision. Every report that has been published over the past decade has concluded that there is no economic case to be made for the reopening of any rail service on that line. The Minister's Department arrived at the same conclusions. Irish Rail published a report last July outlining its rail freight strategy for the next 20 years to the year 2040 and there was not one single word about the western rail corridor. The Minister referred the most recent WRC report to JASPERS, the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions partnership body, and the most respected think tank when it comes to the economics of developing transport infrastructure, and its conclusion, quite simply, was that: "... there is no evidence of specific transport or social constraints, nor of clear objectives that any investment in this corridor is required to meet."

I ask that the Minister finally make a decision to build a railway with a greenway alongside it or to build a greenway. I ask also that the Minister, who has done extraordinary work in this area of active transport, not to leave this line to rot for another 40 years.

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