Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The main issue I have with the EY report, which he has outlined in part, is on what premise it looked at the western rail corridor. Fundamentally, public transport is about a public good, and that is what the reopening of the western rail corridor and the advancement of phases two and three are about. This is about a public good, a social good and a benefit to the planet. We need not necessarily to put aside all economic constraints but we do need to look at transport as being not about how much money we can bring in but about how much of an economic development, quite apart from the line itself, will be brought about by putting in place this rail line. It is not necessarily always about the number of passengers but rather the number of passengers the line will bring in and deliver in the future. It is also, as I said, about how many fewer car journeys we can expect from this line. I look forward to the review. I hope the Minister will engage more on this over the coming months.