Ulick Burke (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Higgins for sharing time and I welcome the Minister to the House. It is unbelievable that CIE went about breaking up the western rail link at 5 p.m. last Monday. The most amazing thing is the differentiation between what lies north and south of Athenry. It intends to install a new link south of Athenry, omitting it north of the town. It will cost €300,000 to €400,000 to reinstall that in the future. The company ignored the Minister's request that it wait until the strategic review was completed. Twelve western local authorities made a joint submission to the national spatial strategy in July 2001 and revised it for the national railway review. The company ignored that and went ahead in dismantling the rail link.