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

I agree with the Deputy fully. I would add the environmental issue to his list of common-sense considerations we have to take into account. The opponents of investing in rail freight argue that it is not economic and does not make sense, but they do not answer the question of how they intend to decarbonise our haulage system and do not take that into account as a key strategic objective that we have to meet, as well as the other ones the Deputy mentioned with regard to better balanced regional development, social advancement and so on. That is the key issue that will get the western rail corridor over the line. The EIB project is short. It is to set out an implementation plan for the strategy. It will be concluded quickly. That has not stopped us. I am focusing on the western rail corridor because I know the Deputy has a personal interest in it and has been committed to it for a long time. That has not stopped us, this spring, from starting to clear the line.

It is similar to what we did with the reopening of the Shannon-Foynes line. We started to get a much better assessment of the state of the line and what would be required to reopen it. We have not just sat and waited for reports to conclude. We have started to take action. What you realise when you do that is that the line is in a much better state than people might think. The planning obstacles are much less compared with other projects because it is within the curtilage of an existing Irish Rail corridor. It is much easier and quicker to restore such lines than people previously thought. We saw that in Foynes and I think we can see the same with the western rail corridor.

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