Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister of State listening to the comments I made and responding to them because perhaps that was not information he would have been in a position to give. The Minister of State's response reads, "After the necessary approvals have been secured, the Department of Transport will publish the report." Can he please tell me what necessary approvals are required for the report to be published? He also said it would be premature to discuss publication arrangements or specific projects until the report is finalised. I do not agree that it would be premature to discuss publication arrangements. We can absolutely discuss publication arrangements. Is it the Minister's intention to publish when the report is finalised? What does he need in order to publish it?

As the Minister of State indicated, we hope that we will see an assembly and an Executive restored before next year but they may not be restored within the year. They may not be restored within the next five years. We have no idea. The idea that we would delay development of our projects and the publication of this worthwhile report, considering the public interest in it and the interest in contributing to the public consultation, and that we would sit back and wait for politics in the North to get its act together is absolute madness. The Minister of State has already alluded to the importance of this type of work. We have seen already the success of the western rail corridor in the Limerick to Galway section. The numbers continue to grow, despite all the challenges. The west of Ireland is a disadvantaged region when it comes to every metric. Whether it is public investment in infrastructure, our roads network or our rail network, we lag behind every other region. We need this project. In the west of Ireland, we would like to have public transport like everywhere else. We would like this rail connectivity. My question is very specific. What exactly are the necessary approvals in order to publish the report? What is needed? Is it the Minister's intention to publish once the draft is finalised?