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

There are two or three different issues here but they all have the one same connecting issue in that they all involve increased connectivity to the north and west. The Navan rail link, north and west of Dublin, has been assessed as part of the draft greater Dublin area strategy and I agree with the assessment that the case has been made and that it will be included once the greater Dublin area, GDA, strategy becomes fully legal in our plans. It will take time. In respect of the constraints, there is not a lack of ambition or urgency here but there is one reality we have to face.

There are already approximately €70 billion worth of projects within the existing transport projects in the planning process and we have a €35 billion budget for this decade. That is a real constraint and difficulty. However, it does not undermine the case for that line to Navan. If that proceeds, it raises the question of whether one could go further. Could one go from Navan along the old route towards Kingscourt? One could even consider, if one was massively ambitious, that this was an original line up through Monaghan, Omagh, Strabane and into Derry. Part of the strategic rail review recognises that the north west of the island has been neglected in terms of transport connectivity and in that really big long-term context it makes sense. However, it is much more challenging because that rail line has not been used for a significant period. There is quite a lot of quarrying, industrial and other activity in that part of the country and perhaps we could look at whether that would be a way of reopening the line, holding the reservation, getting trains back and then seeing if passenger services can follow on.

When it comes to the north west and the western rail corridor, as Deputy Cannon said it could potentially run up to Sligo or Enniskillen. Again, that is a very long-term prospect. Once one goes north of Claremorris, the line is not extant. Everyone is agreed that the section north towards Collooney and Sligo is highly unlikely in the immediate future to be considered for rail services. I believe there is broad agreement that it should be a greenway, except I am not certain whether Mayo County Council, Galway County Council and Sligo County Council are in agreement as to how and where that route should be devised and designed. From my perspective, that is one of the biggest obstacles to providing a greenway in that area. The section from Claremorris to Athenry is a different issue. From Claremorris one can join onto the existing rail network towards Ballina or Westport. There is a strategic question in a much wider national context which the original rail reviews did not look at in that section of line. If one looks at it in a narrow context, is there is a demand for commuting from Claremorris or Tuam into Galway on rail? The answer is clearly "No", as Joint Assistance to Support Projects in the European Regions, JASPERS, said. However, is it potentially a part of a strategic western rail corridor which extends all the way from Ballina down the west coast through Limerick towards Waterford? That is a different question which neither JASPERS nor anybody else has asked yet and which the strategic rail review is now looking at.

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