Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. I take issue with the answer. He has said Irish Rail is to lead on this project. The solution to this serious issue is a couple of kilometres away from the rail track and really it should be with the OPW and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Confidence will be lost in the service between Limerick and Galway if this floods. We had 2.5 times the normal rainfall just in October and it is not unlikely that we will see flooding on this line like we saw back in 2014 and 2015. If that happens, the service will be knocked out for anything between seven and 15 weeks, perhaps even longer. I am afraid to say that this has been passed from Department to Department and back again. The report is there now over two years and it seems that nobody wants to take ownership of this issue. It will be very detrimental to our ambitions to enhance public transport between cities and across the country if we allow this to happen and do not act now to prevent the flooding of the line.

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