Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin will deliver affordable, reliable and safe public transport. The reason we will do so is that we understand the necessity of affordable and accessible public transport in addressing social exclusion and climate change and to facilitate economic growth, in particular in the regions. That was nowhere more evident than last Saturday when West On Track organised a conference for the delivery of the western rail corridor and the development of the Atlantic economic corridor as well.

Sixty towns from throughout the region were represented at that conference and there were public representatives from right across the political divide. The western rail corridor has the potential to revitalise these western communities, provide alternative transport options for people and deliver the much-needed regional connectivity. It has been estimated that if the line is reactivated, 575,000 passengers could travel on it each year by 2030. The western rail corridor has become a byword for regional development and investment in the west, and it is a significant source of frustration given the repeated failures to progress the project. For Mayo regional development, it is no longer an option but an urgent necessity. The Minister of State knows this, as does the Minister for Transport.

As was noted last week, when Jim Fahy interviewed Monsignor Horan in Knock, he asked the priest what all the people were doing there. Monsignor Horan explained that they were building an airport but warned him not to tell the Department of Transport because if people with centralised and institutionalised thinking had had their way, Knock Airport would never have been built. We want the same to be done for the western rail corridor. We want it to be delivered on. It is a modest sum we are talking about and it will be a game changer for the entire region, as I know the Minister of State, coming from the region, understands. When will the all-island rail review be made available to us?

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