Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I join others in complimenting the Taoiseach and other European leaders on the progress they made in concluding the fiscal treaty document last night. I would like to see a decision reached at an early stage as to whether a referendum is necessary. While I do not think anyone has anything to fear from holding a referendum, I would disagree with Senator MacSharry in his argument. If the Attorney General concludes a referendum is not necessary, it would be a great waste of time and money and possibly cause divisiveness to have a campaign that was deemed to be unnecessary. We will await the decision of the Attorney General. Everyone wants to see the Government get on with the urgent business of creating employment and getting our finances back on track and the country back into a more desirable state.

Senator Quinn spoke earlier about the importance of time, speed and efficiency. Will the Leader organise it in order that on the next occasion the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, is in the House to discuss transport issues, we would also have the opportunity to discuss the operation of the Galway-Limerick section of the western rail corridor which was the subject of a recent "Prime Time" programme and which showed it in a rather bad light. I support the call made recently by the West on Track committee for the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, to open this section of track to a possible private operator, such as the RPA which made a stunning success of the Luas operation, and to invite other operators to tender for the running of this section. It is very obvious that Iarnród Éireann has no particular interest in it. Right from the start it has undermined it, failed to market it and priced it incorrectly. The company is ensuring that rolling stock is taking two hours to travel from Galway to Limerick when less than one hour should be sufficient. I call for a debate on this section of the western rail corridor. The money has been spent to put it in place and we must ensure we get value for money and that the people who wish to use the service are getting a fast, efficient and user-friendly service.