Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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It seems to me that we are on the cusp of changing how we do transport in this country. For 60 years, the rail system has been starved of investment. Unlike other countries, Ireland did not see a future for rail. It perceived that the future would involve a transport system based on private cars and, to some extent, city and intercity buses.

In recent years, the Government has invested in rail, and Irish Rail is building up its capacity to develop a pipeline of new projects. One of the critical elements of expanding and turning around the six-decade decline of rail in this country is rail freight. I was very happy to see some clearance on the Limerick to Foynes line happening in the past week or two. This 41-km-long line was built in just nine months in the mid-19th century, and I wonder how they did that. It is good to see the line being cleared now. All going well, it will be reopened for freight purposes at least. We would like to see it opened to passenger rail standard and the building of a number of stations along the line in the coming years in places such as Raheen, Patrickswell, Adare, Askeaton and, indeed, in Foynes. It also complements the ambition to develop our west coast renewable-energy resources. It is a good project that chimes very well with Government policy.

Another project the Minister is well aware of is the western rail corridor, which has been talked about for a long time. Phase 1 of the corridor was the Limerick to Galway leg. Phase 2 goes north from Galway towards Tuam and Claremorris, connecting to Westport and Castlebar. I believe there is significant potential for rail freight in the west of Ireland. This project would support rail freight and the development of the rail network. I was in Tuam last Saturday. I took the train as far as Galway and got the bus to Tuam, where about 250 or 300 people, from all parties and from none, attended the gathering. Various presenters made the case for the reopening of the western rail corridor. A critical piece of that argument is rail freight. Since then, I have been speaking to business owners in the west who said they would use the rail network. They would have a clear use for rail freight if the infrastructure existed. This is a critically important project but there is a wider question about the future of rail freight in this country. It seems to me that there is a lot we can do to shift much of the freight, which is carried using road haulage, onto the rail system for transit within the country and for export.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for the chance to answer the question. It is timely due to last week’s meeting about the issue of the western corridor and the significant development of the clearance of some of the Foynes line, which I hope is a harbinger of a significant revival, not just of rail freight in our country but for the city of Limerick and surrounding region. The Shannon area task force will come forward with an important report. I hope and expect that it will support this type of development and capture the sense of where our future is going.

This is important for a variety of reason, which I will set out. First, the national planning framework is correct. We need better balanced regional development. We are lopsided on the east coast. While I am a Dublin Deputy and a Dublin citizen, Dublin will not thrive if Ireland is imbalanced as a country. We need to develop our other cities so there is counterbalance, which will help solve our housing problems, as well as bringing a whole range of difference benefits.

In order to do that, we need to make sure that our cities outside Dublin have the right transport infrastructure. The all-island rail review, which Arup is assisting with, is due to be completed shortly. It will come forward with significant recommendation which will also steer us in this direction.

It is true that rail freight has been run down strategically and deliberately over many years. It will be difficult to reverse that. There are major advantages to the road haulage system, investment in the road network in the intervening period and the fact that distances in Ireland are relatively short. We face disadvantages and challenges, but if we think about where this country is going in a zero-carbon future, I believe there is a role for the return of rail freight at scale in a variety of different ways.

Shannon Foynes is a critical element of that because with the development of the offshore wind industry we discussed earlier, it will come onshore in the likes of Shannon Foynes. That is likely to be the location place of new industries which use that clean power and converted hydrogen and ammonia. It makes sense for us to have the best transport infrastructure to port locations where this development is going to take place. That is why the Shannon Foynes line is important. We need to be quick and give a clear signal in that regard by reopening the line.

It is not just about Shannon Foynes. The Deputy is correct. We have to consider the entire rail network. I wish to draw the attention of the Deputy further south-east. There is a closed rail line that could be reopened in order to connect Wexford and Waterford ports. The Waterford to Limerick line is currently underutilised. We have to ask ourselves whether we abandon or restore and revive it. I believe the latter is where we should go.

Taking such a perspective on what might be called an Atlantic rail corridor, running from Waterford to Limerick and up the west coast, with spurs to Shannon Foynes and Cork Harbour, would connect our deep water ports where the new offshore wind energy industries are going to develop. It also makes sense in that regard to continue the line by connecting from Athenry to Claremorris and Ballina and all points in between. That would start to bring us an integrated network.

In terms of where we might locate inland rail rate rail freight ports, we could have load on load off container terminals with rail connections to the quayside transporting containers to inland rail marshalling yards. To my mind, that would be a very viable rail freight opportunity for this country. There would be lower carbon emissions and it would be less expensive in a variety of different ways. It would be a real signal that the benefit can be not only a freight line, but as we start to revive and build up a real capability it has the potential to be a residential or metropolitan rail system for the Limerick region. It would be part of four lines that are currently underutilised. It would turn the city's development around and help it to thrive.

Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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I thank the Minister for the answer. I am happy to hear him expand on the vision for rail freight and for rail in general. It is a very coherent and important vision for us to follow. It chimes incredibly well with the policy agenda and ambition of the Government. It is generally shared these days across the political spectrum.

I was happy to hear the Minister mention the potential of the south east. Our colleague, Deputy Ó Cathasaigh, will certainly welcome the Minister's words on Wexford to Waterford line.

I want to mention the situation at Dublin Port. I understand there is a plan to move the rail freight operation back from the quay. This could be a retrograde step. A number of people have expressed concerns about it and have said it could impact the future of rail freight in this country if that happens. All our ports should have enabling rail right up to the quayside so that there can be a load on load off facility. That is true of Dublin Port. Rosslare is a similar example, where rail was pulled back from the quayside there a number of years ago.

I am happy to hear the Minister mention the Limerick network. Limerick city is unique in the Irish context as a regional city because it has four rail lines going in and out of it. We need to think about Limerick differently to how we think about Waterford, Cork and Galway because it has infrastructure that if we were to build is from scratch would cost billions of euro and probably would not develop. The infrastructure is in place; we need to upgrade and developer it and see it for the asset it is. I look forward to seeing the Moyross train station built under the Pathfinder project in the next number of years. It should be the first of many new suburban rail stations around Limerick and Clare.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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With regard to Dublin Port, there are different views. Dublin Port has argued that it could not run the rail lines which it currently does the quayside but instead shunt containers by truck from the port to the Sheriff Street area. Irish Rail has argued that has huge disadvantages and needs the area for its operations, and that once there are double or several movements things become very expensive. I tend to agree with Irish Rail.

We are going to go with railhead to the quayside in Cork, Waterford, Wexford and Shannon Foynes, why would we exclude the largest port in the State from a similar strategy and create, in effect, a disconnected network? We will have to wait at the what the Arup report said. As the Deputy knows, it comprises independent engineers. Let us see what it delivers.

Over 90% of the roll-on roll-off haulage in Ireland comes through Dublin Port and is driven through the port tunnel. I was on the M50 on the morning in question, and it was gridlocked. There was an accident and I was on the road for an hour with trucks sitting in the same gridlock. The benefit of having a balanced system with the development of Limerick, Cork, Waterford and Wexford, as well as other ports, is that we can get that balance in the system and are not putting all of the pressure on Dublin.

With regard to Limerick and investment in rail, it will take time to turn the city back to how things worked throughout its history. For five decades, we have ignored rail lines and run them down. As soon as we opened the Ennis line, it exceeded all expectations. People want to use public transport, but we have not provided it. We have had too much emphasis on other methods of transport. We have to view this as a long-term investment.

The State failed to do develop Limerick sufficiently well. The Buchanan report made recommendations in the 1960s. We have nowhere near the population Limerick was expected to have. When we invest in rail lines we have to think in terms of 50 and 100 years. We need to think of a Limerick twice its size, which is what it should be, in order to be the capital of the mid-west and continue as a successful manufacturing, trading and education centre. In order to do that, we need to invest and think big and at scale. The four lines need to be metropolitan services with electric battery trains running at a regular frequency in order that as the city grows, which it needs to do, it will do so along rail lines rather than along roads. If it grows along roads, not only will that not work for climate, the mathematics will not work. There will be too many cars and gridlock for everyone. By providing rail services, Limerick will survive.