John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is a really excellent response from the Minister of State. I thank him for taking that to the House today. I will point out two things. We want to move towards an hourly service. That is exactly what we want to do and that is why it is so important that we have the review on inter-regional rail as well. For the Minister of State's constituency in north Dublin, the issue with the rail traffic coming from Belfast, Newry, Dundalk and Drogheda is the number of commuter trains that start in Laytown, Bettystown and Balbriggan. The problem is early morning commuter trains. Those commuter rails in the north Dublin and south Meath area block up the train line, which then slows down the intercity rail at the moment. It is, therefore, also about trying to resolve that issue in the wider context of this review. If we can resolve that, and one of the ways of doing so is through high-speed rail, it would make the issue easier for everyone involved.

The final point is that this is not just about providing faster commuter times from places like Dundalk or Drogheda into Dublin. It is about going the opposite way as well. We have very good companies and good jobs in the north east and if we can provide high-speed rail, we can attract people from Dublin out of our cities to live in our regions. That is the most important thing behind this whole debate.