Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for the question. My interest is also in the western rail corridor. The Minister mentioned freight being part of it and that the analysis around all of that may bring that economic argument across the line. I feel another problem we have with it is that when an analysis is done of passenger numbers, it is done in much too narrow a scope. For instance, when I lived not far from the Sligo-Dublin rail line, people got on and off the train from Dublin in Dromod in County Leitrim. Many of them are from as far away as west Cavan because it is the nearest railway to them. That is the same situation as in many of these cases, where the analysis is done in a tight, narrow framework along the rail line. It needs to be much broader than that. The experience has always been that when you link centres of economic activity, whether Galway to Limerick or Dublin to Sligo, you will see people use that facility. We have a centre of economic activity in Sligo which we intend to build and grow.

One of the obvious ways of doing that is to put the rail line up that far. It is a very short journey going past an international airport. Ireland West Airport is right on the edge of this rail line. There is no reason to suggest that this should not be done. I acknowledge Deputy Harkin's statement about the competition that exists from people who want to see a greenway there. We also need greenways but we must give priority to national infrastructure and put our rail lines back in place for everyone in Ireland.

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