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

I am very glad to have the chance to respond to the Deputy's question. Can I put it first and foremost in a very broad framework? The day before yesterday, for the first time in recorded history, the temperature of our planet went above 17° on average. This is above the 1.5° increase we are hoping to avert through the Paris climate agreement. For most of June, as the Leas-Chathaoirleach will know, we had an extraordinary situation whereby the temperature of the air above the surface of the sea off the west coast of Ireland was 5° above average, which is outside any precedent. World weather systems are changing dramatically in front of us and this requires an urgent and dramatic response.

This sounds very broad but it has implications for every aspect of what we do. In particular, in the transport sector, which accounts for a fifth of our emissions, we have to act now and change our systems to a better way that is decarbonised. This will be most difficult in the freight and haulage sector. We know we can switch to active travel, public transport and electric cars but trucks are going to be difficult. In my mind, what will come is battery electric trucks but trucks also have different characteristics such as different range characteristics. I believe a fundamental shift will be the revitalisation of rail freight on our island as a means of decarbonising our transport system.

With the reintroduction of rail freight, there is the potential to reintroduce a lot of passenger services when we get the rail lines back. We need to consider two critical pieces of infrastructure in this regard: the connection from Rosslare to Waterford and the connection from Athenry to Claremorris. By reopening those two sections, we have the potential for an Atlantic rail corridor that runs all the way from Rosslare to Ballina and Westport. The advantage of this is that every big international or local business within 50 to 100 km of that rail line would have a mechanism to get a zero-carbon export solution to their products. Battery electric trucks could be driven to the train station or marshalling yard with access via that rail line through Shannon Foynes Port, Marino Point in Cork, Waterford Port or Rosslare Europort. Currently a lot of that traffic goes from Galway, Mayo and Limerick through the middle of the country and our towns on the way to Rosslare and out to France. Building that section from Athenry to Claremorris gives us the opportunity to go towards a low-carbon transport solution. It also opens up the possibility of passenger services and much greater inter-connection.

The EY report that looked at whether we should reopen the Athenry to Claremorris line had too narrow a focus. The report asked whether there was sufficient demand for people to commute from Claremorris or Tuam to Galway by rail. Obviously, the answer was "not really" because there was a more direct bus route and the cost would be very high in comparison. However, when you broaden the lens in the way I have just done, it changes the analysis. I am looking forward to the publication of the strategic rail review this month and I believe it will make that case. We then have to collectively as a Parliament make the case for the investment. I wish it was the figure the Deputy said Mr. Bradley would say but I fear it is likely to be a multiple of that. If he could build it for that figure, I would hire him tomorrow.

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