Seanad debates

Wednesday, 29 June 2022

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business

 

10:00 am

Photo of Paddy BurkePaddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the announcement by the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Naughton, of over €13 million in co-funding for transport projects in Ireland under the European Union's Connecting Europe facility.This is a key EU funding instrument to promote growth and jobs in Europe. I particularly welcome the €2.5 million for Irish Rail to support studies on the development of a rail freight system connecting Ireland's busiest seaports and establishing transfer points for freight between rail and road. As the Deputy Leader will know, Ballina is the only rail freight railway station in the country. I have no doubt that this report will help build other train stations that will actively support rail freight between railway stations and seaports. Our home town of Castlebar is an ideal place for a rail freight town. It is the capital and county town of Mayo. Baxter Healthcare and Meissner, as well as other industries are located there. They would use rail freight if it was there. I was talking to someone from Cunningham Transport, which is on the railway line recently. I have no doubt it would use rail freight if we had it in Castlebar. We also have the ideally-placed KOG logistics, which is one of the most modern logistics plants in the country. It would actively use rail freight if it was available. I welcome this report. We should have a debate on rail freight and passenger freight and the extension of the rail line from Athenry to Claremorris. It is because of that that it was pointed out to us that Ballina is the only rail freight station in the country. It would be an ideal opportunity for this debate, particularly in light of the €2.5 million that has been made available to Irish Rail to carry out this study.

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