Frank Feighan (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Last week passengers who took a train from Sligo to Dublin had no food, no refreshments, no heating and poor lighting. They could have been travelling back in time rather than to the capital city. The locomotives and rolling stock on the Sligo-Dublin line are up to 40 years old.

There is a clear division in this country. The Government is happy to spend €800 million on two Luas lines, some €200 million more than estimated, yet it could not care less when it comes to providing new rolling stock for existing rail lines such as the line to the north west to Sligo, Westport and Ballina. Meanwhile, I wonder what has happened to cause Iarnród Éireann to invest in new stock for the Limerick to Waterford line. I have no doubt this was arranged to cover up for the embarrassing accident on the line last year? Does that mean we need to have a serious accident on the lines to the west of Ireland? When will we get rolling stock?

What happened to the Government's commitment to invest in infrastructure in the north west and west of Ireland? The BMW region is supposed to have Objective One status, yet investment in that part of the country has fallen way behind levels in the southern and eastern regions. This Government is happy to leave people in the dark when it comes to taking a train to the west. I have raised this issue on numerous occasions in this House. The people of the west deserve the same facilities as other parts of the country. We must act soon.