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

I will have to disagree with the Deputy regarding the Foynes experience. It is possible to work very quickly when we work in this way because we are not caught in planning. Irish Rail turned around the Foynes line really quickly and I hope it can do the same on the western rail corridor.

Regarding Deputy Harkin's question, I accept the need to improve access to the north west. Much of the investment on the existing mainline network I mentioned is designed to do that.

In response to Deputy O'Callaghan, as a later parliamentary question relates to Clongriffin station, I will come back to the issue then rather than using the time now.

On Deputy Leddin's point, I mentioned the three cases of the western rail corridor, the rail line to Shannon and the reopening of the Rosslare line because they are the only three new lines we will be putting in as part of this whole strategy. It is important they come centre stage because they are key strategic elements in rebalancing the country. We have an imbalanced transport system, with a huge proportion of investment going into the east. We do need to balance it out, and these three sections, along with the other investments in the north west as well as elsewhere, will be critical and need to get priority. Otherwise, we will not get housing or economic development in a balanced way.

There is still a need to do business cases. It would still take time even if we were going ahead straightaway. It is better to indicate that it will be in the second part of this decade that those projects will start to be built and delivered. In truth, the reality, which we all know, is that it takes time to get developments through our project appraisal system and planning system. This process needs to accelerate because these projects are needed as soon as we can possibly deliver them.

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