Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

I support my colleague. I well understand why Waterford people might want to come to Cork. I do not think we should deprive them of that opportunity at all.

Any time there is a debate on rail infrastructure, there is a fair bit of interest right across the country. That reflects a significant shift in people's mentality in the last 20 or 30 years. If we go back 50 or 60 years or even more recently, rail lines were still being closed. There has been a shift. It reflects that people want the opportunity to use rail and if it is there, they will take it. Anywhere rail lines have been reopened or new rail lines have been initiated, they have been a success.

I acknowledge the work that has been done in Cork by Iarnród Éireann, led by A.J. Cronin's team, including Kieran Murphy and Stephen Hackett. A lot of progress has been made and there is more to come. There will be decisions in the forthcoming period about electric carriages and where they will go. We want to make sure that they are everywhere. If they are delivered to Cork on time, it will ensure some of the new routes being talked about become viable at the frequencies that are necessary.

I will briefly touch on the issue of a Luas for Cork. It is a vital piece of infrastructure. I welcome that we are now talking about it in real terms. We need to learn from the mistake in Dublin, where there were two routes that were not connected. We need to move the Cork plan from one route to two so that most of the city is served east to west and north to south. There is a gap for places like Douglas, Rochestown and into Carrigaline. They are big, populous areas with heavy traffic. We should be connecting the north of the city as well. It is an area that is often neglected in terms of infrastructure. Due to the way the Dublin Luas is set up, we imagine that such operations have to be run through private contractors. I do not believe so. I do not see any reason a public body should not be able to run the Cork Luas, and who better to do that than Iarnród Éireann? Clearly from the public point of view, it is the agency that could do it. That needs to be considered and is something I would support.

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