Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In regard to State airports, the Minister has spoken about a capacity review and the possibility of a third terminal at Dublin Airport. Shannon Airport is operating under capacity. In terms of balanced regional development, it would make more efficient use of natural resources to see how we could use Shannon Airport, which has the largest runway in Europe, pre-clearance and a good road network. There is no reason people could not come to Shannon rather than Dublin.

On the rail network review, I had a cursory look at the document. I travel the Limerick to Dublin rail route quite often, which is also the Cork to Dublin line. Some 35% of passengers go by that line but the mobile and broadband coverage are dire, something I did not see in the report. If we are to encourage people to travel by rail in the modern world their phones cannot be dropping every two minutes but one cannot have a normal conversation by mobile phone on a train. Broadband coverage is hit and miss - some days it works and some days it does not. If those two issues were corrected it would encourage a lot more people to travel by rail and maybe the financial deficiencies which Irish Rail has would be significantly ameliorated.

I was enthusiastic about the reopening of the initial planning process for the M20 motorway from Limerick to Cork and I welcome and give thanks for the fact that it is happening. I understand that it is a leap of faith and will involve €1 million, in conjunction with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, which briefed the transport committee this morning. It will allow us, prior to the mid-term capital review, to look again at the work that was done when the project was suspended back in November 2011 and to look at the planning that was done in respect of the existing route.We must use the nine months up to the mid-term capital review in an efficient manner. The mid-term capital review will feed into the decision-making process of the Minister and the Government. The review is not part of the capital review programme but it would be extremely beneficial to us in the southern part of the country and in Limerick.

I note that the bid the Minister has made for the Rugby World Cup will include Thomond Park in Limerick, Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork, Pearse Stadium in Galway and MacHale Park in Castlebar, County Mayo. It would be wonderful to have a proper road network to link all of these areas instead of bottlenecks. Not all elements of the route are poor. Everyone knows that the route to Buttevant is dire. Many of my constituents in Limerick commute daily to Cork and there have been many fatalities on the existing N20 route. I thank the Minister and commend him on granting approval to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, to proceed with inhouse work on the initial planning phase to prepare a brief for consultants. While approval has not been granted to the consultants as yet, efficient use will be made of the time available between now and the mid-term capital review. The initiative will enable the Minister to make an informed decision on putting the route in place. I feel strongly about this matter. The initiative has been welcomed by people who live in the region. I understand that the initiative does not grant approval for the route to go ahead but it allows due diligence to recommence. In November 2011 the route had reached An Bord Pleanála, which was the penultimate or final stage. A lot of that work can be used again and, thus, the cost of €1 million will prove to be an efficient use of taxpayers' money. I sincerely thank the Minister for allowing the TII, formerly known as the National Roads Authority, to proceed with inhouse work in advance of the mid-term capital review that is due to take place in 2017.