Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

That is not agreed Government policy yet but it is certainly my policy. I hope we can get support for that from all parties because this does not belong to any one party.

In response to Senator Burke I again cite that section from Athenry to Claremorris. As I said when I was speaking in the Dáil on this Bill, the potential for freight connectivity is so important. In my mind the line will run from Ballina, if not Sligo, all the way down to Waterford which will open up the whole western region. I am talking here about a western rail corridor from Waterford through Tipperary, Limerick Junction and up through Clare, Galway and Mayo.It opens up the opportunity for us to go to the rest of the world and ask whether they are looking to invest in a location which has clean power, as the west has now with wind power, clean water, which is increasingly a rare resource in the world, world-class workers who are highly skilled in advanced manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, biomedical devices and industrial processing - we are world-leading experts on it - and key infrastructure connected to deep sea ports such as Foynes, Waterford and Cork. If we went out to the rest of the world with that as an investment proposal, I believe we would see the west rise with significant economic development opportunity. Those small sections between Foynes and Limerick and between Athenry and Claremorris would transform the system.

In response to Senator McDowell, the Department has been working for more than a year and a half to make sure post Brexit, irrespective of what happens in the negotiations in the coming weeks, we are confident we have the regulations and mechanisms in place so that cross-Border rail and bus journeys will be able to proceed.

The Senator's second point is valid and well made. We have seen, in the experience of people yesterday morning and again this morning, the real constraints when restricting public transport to 20% capacity. We are running full services. It is not a shortage of buses or a shortage of trains. On the Senator's behalf and on my own behalf, I will contact the National Transport Authority, NTA, later today for an updated assessment as to what is happening. There is a difficulty here. We are adhering to health protocols ahead of other objectives. The mathematics of that are such that sometimes one wonders.