Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to raise this important matter on the adjournment. We have suffered heavily from the failure of successive Governments to ensure balanced regional development through a failure to invest adequately in infrastructure in the west. Four years have elapsed under the national plan and in the meantime €22.8 billion has been spent in the south and east regions and €8.3 billion in the BMW region. The south and east regions spend represents 92% of what was forecast in the national development plan but the BMW region has achieved only 75% of the projected spend.

The west and north-western part of County Mayo is in serious decline. It is the most socio-economically deprived area of Ireland. Half of Mayo graduates have to go to Dublin for their first job. If the present rate of decline continues north and west Mayo, in a line west of Killala to Newport, will be completely deserted by the end of the century. After generations of party politics in Mayo we do not have the roads, rail, telecommunications and broadband infrastructure needed to make it a competitive area.

If broken promises were infrastructure, we would have all the assets we need to compete with any region of the world. That is why the western rail corridor is so important for Mayo. It is the most important piece of unused infrastructure along the entire west region, a wonderful catalyst for the development of the west. It would open up the entire area from Knock Airport to Shannon Airport right through to Rosslare. This route which closed in 1976 runs from Sligo to Limerick via Galway and Ennis, and passes through Claremorris, Tuam and Athenry. The cost of the Ennis to Claremorris line has been estimated at approximately €170 million, while €365 million would reopen the entire link.

Opening the line from Claremorris, County Mayo, would provide a commuter service to Galway city. Iarnród Éireann estimates that it would take two years to reopen the first section of the line. Once again we are hoping and waiting. We await news, possibly tomorrow, about the future of the western rail corridor. The fear is that Government will be true to form and may well announce opening the southern end of the line but will neglect the western part, Ennis to Sligo, which unfortunately would be par for the course so far as successive Governments are concerned regarding the west.

We need the reopening of the western rail corridor to give us essential railway infrastructure. When one considers the cost of a mile of the Luas route, the western rail corridor makes great economic sense. It would give balanced regional development which helps the congested east coast. It would link in nicely with Knock Airport which needs its €30 million investment to have proper facilities and be competitive and to take some of Dublin's 17 million projected passengers. It would help kick-start the Mayo link which would further open up the county. I hope there will be an announcement soon and that Mayo and its neighbouring counties will not be put on the backburner as usual. This is a plea to put the money up front for the western rail corridor to ensure Mayo will not be the last of the Mohicans as usual but the first to get funding.

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Cowley for raising this issue. Deputies will recall that in June 2004 the then Minister for Transport, Deputy Brennan, set up the western rail corridor working group under the chairmanship of Mr. Pat McCann, chief executive, Jurys Doyle Hotel Group.

The establishment of the working group was primarily intended to provide a forum where those individuals and organisations who had long been promoting the idea of the western rail corridor could put their arguments directly to the chairman and debate the issues with Iarnród Éireann, CIE, the Department of Transport and all the other interested parties.

Within the past 48 hours I have received from Mr. McCann the report of the chairman of the working group. I thank him and the other members of the group for their work on this process. In the time available I have not had the opportunity to study the report in detail, but it is clear that Mr. McCann has a positive disposition towards the restoration of the western rail corridor; a position that I have always maintained.

The arrival of the report this week is timely as it affords me the opportunity to consider its proposals in the context of the preparation of the multi-annual capital investment framework for transport currently under way within my Department. I have already asked my departmental officials to urgently examine Mr. McCann's report to ensure that it is fully appraised in advance of the finalisation of the framework. It is in that process that decisions will be made on the future of the western rail corridor.

The Deputy refers to the western rail corridor in the context of balanced regional development and I am in agreement with him. The concept of balanced regional development is integral to the core objectives of the national spatial strategy and this Government is fully committed to achieving such development in the west through record capital investment in all sectors but primarily the transport sector. This is particularly the case with regard to investment in public transport infrastructure and services.

Some of the more significant rail projects carried out in the west in recent times or planned for the near future are as follows: the rail infrastructure improvements carried out under the Rail Safety Programme 2000-2004 have upgraded all key rail lines into the west to continuous welded rail on concrete sleepers; a new rail safety programme is currently being rolled out which will include improvements to level crossings, bridges and other track work on all lines; the rail re-signalling project, known as the mini CTC, on the Dublin-Galway line was completed in June 2003 with the immediate effect of significant journey time reductions on services; the Sligo line is on target for completion of its re-signalling project later this year and similar time savings will benefit users of that line; re-signalling work on the Westport and Ballina lines will begin in early 2006 with a completion date of 2007; because of the infrastructure upgrading, Iarnród Éireann is now in a position to concentrate on introducing better timetabling and more frequent services with new improved rolling stock; with the arrival this year of new rolling stock to replace old stock and to expand the fleet, rail passengers in the west can expect to see additional improvements in services; this year Iarnród Éireann expects to take delivery of 36 DMU railcars and most of these are due to be allocated to the Sligo route to replace life-expired rolling stock and to increase frequency and capacity; an order for a fleet of 120 new intercity railcars has been placed by IarnródÉireann. These will enter service from 2007 onwards and will operate on the Galway, Westport and Ballina routes. At that point Iarnród Éireann will be able to provide two-hourly services on the Galway line and increased frequencies on the Westport and Ballina lines.

All these investments testify to this Government's commitment to balanced regional development in the west and to delivering the infrastructure that will make such development a reality.

Mr. McCann' s report will be examined in the context of the Government's record on delivering balanced regional development in the west and as part of the process of finalising the multi-annual investment framework for transport. It is in that process that decisions will be made on the future of the western rail corridor.