Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Senator O'Reilly made excellent and valid points about this. I am of the view, as is the Minister, that the strategic rail review will be conducted on an all-island basis, will identify those needs the Senator has spoken about and will be carried out with the support of the Northern Ireland Executive to provide a much more holistic overview of what is required. It will seek to address the shortcomings identified in the JASPERS review and will mean that individual projects put forward later for consideration can be linked back to a strong strategic framework. Importantly, it will also identify how we will move our inter-urban and inter-regional rail services off fossil fuels and towards a decarbonised future, as we must do by 2050. It will also examine the potential role of freight rail, which the Senator mentioned and which is critical. The points made about balanced regional development towards that social gain that will be accrued from having an expanded rail network in Ireland are critical. I am confident that the review being carried out by the Minister will seek and identify those objectives, particularly for the west.