Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House and wish him well in his portfolio. I am from the south east. Members will be aware of the grave disquiet in the region at the proposed closure of the Rosslare to Limerick line. There is also widespread concern about the future of the Rosslare to Dublin line. As has been pointed out repeatedly, given the amount of traffic on our roads, we should move as much of it as possible onto the rail network. As this is a policy decision, the buck stops on the Minister's desk. It will probably be necessary to subsidise rail freight in order to get more traffic onto the network. Obviously, however, there should be no bottomless pit.

As one who worked in Waterford Port for more than 20 years and was chairman of the company on three occasions, I am acutely aware of the need for a proper rail structure, not alone in Waterford and the south east, but also throughout the country. The time for reports on rail and transport matters, of which there must be a mountain in the Department, is over. Action is required.

I now see the demise of rail freight in Waterford Port which, in its heyday eight to ten years ago, transported almost 40,000 TEUs – 20 ft. equivalent units – by rail. This figure has fallen to approximately 5,000 TEUs which amounts to a decline in rail freight traffic as a proportion of traffic in the port from 25% to 30% to less than 5%. This is a terrible indictment of CIE and the way in which rail freight is marketed. Does the company have the will to improve and properly market its rail freight section? I have my doubts about it. There are many beet growers in the south east and they have stated that if the rail line is removed there will be approximately 100 extra trucks on the road each day of the beet season. What kind of damage would that do to the environment?