Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I provided funding of, I think, €5 million to clear the line from Collooney, all the way down to the CLÁR area boundary, which was south of Claremorris, back in 2006. What we need now is construction. We know the line is intact. We have been trying to explain that for a long time. It is intact from Collooney. That section of the line was cleared last year, but perennially clearing the line is not building the line.

I have an interesting question for the Minister. The biggest cost inhibitor is what is called building inflation. Can the Minister tell me what building inflation has been since the strategic rail review started three or four years ago? What would it cost to do the work now compared with what it would have cost if we had done it two years ago, with the rail review, strategic process and so on only taking two years? The reality is that the thing that is running away with this all the time, as the Minister knows, is cost inflation in construction, not all these reports and so on. They are not saving us any money. They are actually costing us money by delaying. When the rail review was started, what would the project for the western rail corridor have cost? Has there been 20% or 30% building inflation? I think that is a fair and relevant question.

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