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

In light of the decision by the High Court yesterday obliging An Bord Pleanála to revisit the planning application for the Galway ring road in the context of the climate action plan, it is now time to consider urgently the public transport options that are available and are presenting to us right now to ease traffic congestion in Galway city. I am thinking particularly of those commuters, just under 2,000 of them, who travel from Athenry and Oranmore into Galway city every day. In this Chamber, in September 2020, I asked the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about an ongoing feasibility study into the double-tracking of and the improvement of frequency on those services from Athenry to Oranmore. I was told the feasibility study would produce a report in the first quarter of 2021. We are now in the first quarter of 2023 and I understand that the feasibility study has now been somehow attached to the all-island rail review, which cannot be reported on until such time as a Northern Ireland executive forms. I ask the Taoiseach to engage with the Minister and to ask him to prioritise this as a matter of urgency in order that there are genuinely alternative travel options available to people travelling into Galway city.

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