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

I will try to give Deputies Martin Kenny and Ó Cuív the same clarity I gave to Deputy Harkin earlier. The rail review does not propose the reintroduction of the line to Collooney. I believe in those contexts it is better to keep the line as a greenway. This is a 30-year investment timeline.

To answer Deputy Ó Cuív's question about the inflation aspect, we must think about this over a 30-year period. The cost is roughly €1 billion a year over that period. In that regard, inflation has been acute in the past two to three years, but this is a longer term strategic issue.

To answer the Deputy Kenny's question about passenger numbers, I agree that the evidence is not what was expected. When we opened the line from Ennis to Galway, the passenger numbers far exceeded the levels predicted by those who doubt public transport, which is very attractive to Irish people. They want a good public transport service. I am concentrating on the rail freight issue because of the economics of the project and the fact that the economic development opportunity for the west in a decarbonised haulage system is far greater. What we need to do immediately is to order wagons so that we can start the rail freight revival in Waterford Port and Shannon Foynes Port, but also through Dublin Port and other locations. That then gives us a wider network that will allow the western rail corridor to start to come into play because it will be possible to export through Foynes, through this network, or through Rosslare or Dublin. It is a natural interconnected system. The benefit is that the new rail freight wagons travel at the same speed as passenger services, so we can run the two on the same line. They complement and do not interrupt each other.

I will come back to the point that this is contested. Not everyone agrees. As Deputy Ó Cuív says, it requires us to take a slightly big, bold, longer term vision. If we go to talk to all those businesses, which I am sure he does, along the western rail corridor, and ask if they want a low-carbon haulage solution - they have an obligation to be zero carbon in their operations - the answer will be "Yes". People think that the current system is economic because they are judging it on a historical fossil fuel transport system. We are switching to an electric system. We must do that in order to decarbonise our transport system. In those circumstances, the likes of Marshall Yard, Claremorris, Crossmolina or another location will actually give us a system that I believe can work. The European Investment Bank is going to assess that recommendation, which was included in the strategic rail review. The review will be concluded very quickly, within a matter of months, not years, and then we need to start making economic investment decision in our ports, on the railway freight wagons and on the reopening of that line because it is a network system. That missing piece kills the network benefits, in particular for Mayo and Galway, and those counties in the north west. That is why I think it is critical issue that we need to collectively consider in the coming months. We must come to a decision on it.

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