John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have raised before in the Seanad the vision for high-speed rail on the island of Ireland, in particular between Belfast and Dublin. I am raising it again today following a meeting that Deputy Carroll MacNeill and I held last week with people who want to support the concept. This would be one of the largest infrastructure projects on the island of Ireland. It is something that will take 20 years at a minimum. If we started on day one with all of government behind high-speed rail, we would not have it on the island of Ireland until 2024.

One of the key reasons it should be between Belfast and Dublin to start with is because that is the economic engine of the island of Ireland. The vast majority of the population, about 2.3 million people, live in that area. When high-speed rail is introduced, it will cut the journey time of approximately 2.5 hours to just one hour. That is the economic reason for the project.

There has been a great deal of talk in recent weeks and months about a united Ireland. One of the key things we need to do between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland is to try to increase co-operation through infrastructural projects. I firmly believe that if we can show that we can make this island economically viable through infrastructure like high-speed rail, that will do a lot to bring both communities together.

There has been some talk about strategic rail reviews and feeding into that. What is needed is a Minister, similar to Séamus Brennan in the 1990s who deregulated the airline market to allow Ryanair in, who will come along and say we are absolutely doing this. It will take time and will be unpopular. People will question the need to do it when it is 20 years away, but it could be one of the largest infrastructural projects on the island of Ireland and would have a huge benefit North and South. It is something we need to consider strongly.