Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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52. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when he plans to publish the reviews carried out into the feasibility of reopening the Athenry to Claremorris section of the western rail corridor; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1014/21]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As the Minister can see, this question has been down for a long time because oral questions were suspended. I know the reports are published but it is very important for the Minister to give some good news regarding connectivity between the major towns in Mayo and Galway. I am delighted that funding has been provided by the Minister's colleague, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, for the passing loop in Oranmore. This really opens up potential to open the line down to County Mayo.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy very much. He is right. Since the question was asked, we have published both the original EY report and the second report, the Joint Assistance to Support Projects in European Regions, JASPERS, review. These two reports provided critical answers to some of the questions asked about the western rail corridor. If I can widen out the question, the further review we are going to be doing, the national rail review, is needed because the questions we have asked to date did not take a sufficiently wide vision of the network effects or of the benefits of filling in gaps in our network or using existing underutilised assets. Considering these matters is one of the purposes of the rail review. In that regard, I see the potential connection from Athenry to Claremorris as being of significance or relevance not only for the likes of Tuam, Claremorris, Athenry or Galway but, as the Deputy has indicated, also for this wider strategic assessment of the entire western rail corridor. From my perspective, the western rail corridor starts right down in the likes of Waterford and runs from there to Limerick Junction, through to Clare and then up to Galway and Mayo. A connection right along the west coast and down to our southern ports allows for the potential long-term use of rail infrastructure. We will have an informal meeting of the transport ministers of the Council of the EU in the coming weeks - I believe it is next week - and the key issue on the agenda is how to revitalise rail including rail freight, rail commuting and meeting long-distance transport needs with rail. In this wider strategic review, I am looking to think big and to think broadly about the situation ten, 20 or 30 years down the line. That connection between Athenry and Claremorris might have impacts right along the rail network which would justify it in a way the JASPERS and EY reports did not.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, I welcome the passing loop into Galway. I also expect that the Minister will proceed with the railway line into Foynes. It is a great pity that the railway line connecting Waterford to Rosslare in Wexford was recently closed because, with the new European direct routes, it would also have been a vital link. The Minister is dead right however; it is all about a network. We do not have a railway network in this country. We have a radial network out of Dublin. That is essentially the way the powers that be, particularly those centred in Dublin, look at the railway lines. While I welcome the review, can the Minister tell me how much time will be wasted on this review, going around on the same old thing, when the system does not want to give the west of Ireland anything?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I consider myself part of the system. System change is what we need to address the climate crisis we face. Part of that system change relates to transport. To go back to the earlier question, how do we go from releasing 12 million tonnes of carbon a year to releasing 6 million tonnes? One of the ways to do this is to change the entire transport system towards sustainable modes. The key direction in this is set by the national planning framework. That is the strategic systemic change we need. It talks about balanced regional development, compact development and decarbonisation development. With regard to the transport system helping in that effort, the system will see the reintroduction of rail services on the Foynes line. This will result in services to the port but also in the potential to open stations in the likes of Adare, Patrickswell, Dooradoyle, the Crescent and other locations en route. I agree with the Deputy. The network effect has to look at how we start to reconnect towns to cities using the rail network. That town centres first policy is part of the national planning framework and it is Government policy to back that up. The rail review is not just the system kicking the can down the road.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There are many Deputies waiting to ask questions and we are going to run out of time so I am really trying to keep to the allocated time.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad the Minister is going to reopen the Foynes line for passengers and freight but is it not absolutely ridiculous to even contemplate doing so, particularly for freight, without connecting Ballina and Westport, for example, to Foynes? We would have the port but not the connecting railway lines while we are talking about decarbonisation. Does it take an awful lot of study to do that? The Minister did not answer the question. For how long is this rail review to go on? There is a great trick in Departments. The Minister is told the Department will do a review and then the Department makes sure it goes on and on until the Minister is gone and cannot make a decision. How long will this rail review take?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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It will take a number of months.

As the Deputy suggested, all rail lines lead to Dublin and this review was initially looking at providing high-speed rail connectivity between Dublin, Cork and Belfast but we have extended it. We first looked at extending it to Derry or Limerick, or both. The conclusion of the western rail corridor analysis was that we needed to go wider and to look at the network effects. It concluded that we needed to look at whether there are underutilised lines that we could return into service and whether we could reverse the dramatic decline in rail freight that has occurred in the last 20 to 40 years. This will be done and at the same time we are looking at a review of the national development plan. The rail review will come after that. This is part of a Government which has deliberately set itself in the course that we will reverse the traditional spending ratio so that it will be 2:1 in favour of public transport rail-based systems over road because that is the correct strategic development for the west as well as for the rest of the country.