Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the National Transport Authority, NTA, officially announced the new greater Dublin area transport strategy, which extends until 2042. This follows Cabinet approval of the document last week. One of the first projects listed by the CEO of the NTA, Anne Graham, is the Navan rail line. Having represented the town of Navan and having fought for this project for a long time, I am delighted it has eventually become part of a multibillion euro package. I pay tribute to the people of Navan, who made their voices heard in this process. Of the 4,000 submissions the NTA received on all the projects across Ireland, some 2,000 of those, or 50%, came from the people of Navan and were for this rail line. That made the NTA sit up and listen to what we had been saying for years, namely, that the fastest growing town on the eastern seaboard, Navan, was the only one without rail connectivity.

I am glad this project is firmly part of the transport strategy but I want to ensure we have a debate with the Minister for Transport on the entirety of the plan, including on the Navan rail line. This must be kept on track from a planning point of view. I have been here before with major projects such as the M3 motorway. There were many lads and lassies up trees or down rabbit holes protesting that project. There were more lads down holes along the route in Meath than we saw in Fantastic Mr. Foxand they delayed the project by a significant number of years, adding €150 million to the price. They did so for naught because the objections were flawed. I want to make sure the people of Navan, who are enthused about this news, get a swift planning process to make sure this project becomes reality.