Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the Minister's response. While I was aware he would be familiar with the European project, in the context of the rail network to which I referred and going back to our earlier dialogue, there is growing awareness of the adverse impact on the environment of CO2 emissions. There is growing awareness that railways can make a valuable contribution and there may now be a rethink on taking more freight off the roads and putting it back on the rail network, which appears to have been neglected over a period of years, perhaps as much by Irish Rail as by any Government intervention. This is why I am a particular proponent of the re-opening of the western rail corridor for freight initially.

The argument may not have been put to the Minister directly - although it may have been at one of his presentations before the transport committee - but it certainly has been made by a group from the west of Ireland and it links in with the Minister's comments about the development of the Shannon Foynes Port, namely, it would be more economically efficient to run freight down the west of Ireland, linking up with Foynes and over to Waterford and out than the way it moves at present, which is to travel eastwards to Dublin and then downwards. There is a powerful economic case, as well as a climate change case, and so on.

I appreciate these are the dying days of the present Government and the Minister will not be able to pull rabbits out of the hat but in policy terms, the Department should not take its eye off the ball with regard to the freight issue in the overall context of what I have argued. I appreciate the point about maintenance but having examined the costings from Irish Rail, I understand the maintenance costs would be considerably lower for freight than would be the case for passenger services, for which one would be obliged to re-open stations and so on. As a first step, to maintain the rail network and to provide a more efficient contribution to the national economy, the Department should keep this proposal in its sights and on the radar as a policy issue.