Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I do not propose to accept the amendment for two reasons. It is not necessary to legislate to establish a committee. Were that desirable we could do that in any case.

Nonetheless, this has provided an opportunity to discuss the matter.

In 2006 and 2007, a committee was established representing the local authorities, local development interests and others. It examined the feasibility of a rail link from Shannon Airport to Limerick and the report concluded that for the link to provide a good quality rail service between Limerick, Shannon and Galway, the cost at 2006 prices would have been €633 million, with an annual operating subsidy of €6 million per annum. That would be required for approximately 20 years, even if 1 million passengers used the line. When the project was assessed, it had a negative net present value and a benefit-to-cost ratio from 0.138 to 0.179, even in high-growth scenarios. For a capital project to be considered, it must have a benefit-to-cost ratio of more than 1, and to be considered for European funding it would need a ratio of more than 1.

As a result of the poor outcome of that economic evaluation, a decision was made at the time not to pursue it. Since 2006, the public finances have worsened and we are now tied to particular spending ceilings, so I could not justify approximately €660 million in cuts and tax increases to fund the project when it has been assessed negatively with regard to the benefit-to-cost ratio and net present value. For those reasons, I ask the Senator to withdraw the amendment.