Paul Gavan (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. It is good to hear such a positive conversation on rail across the Chamber. I am really curious to see what that strategic rail review looks like. It set out a number of really important goals in addition to contributing to decarbonisation, such as improving all-Ireland connectivity, enhancing regional rural accessibility, encouraging sustainable mobility and fostering economic activity.

My concern is that the Minister seems to be saying we will need to wait until the Assembly in the Six Counties is reconvened. That might be a while; I hope it is not. This rail review started at the end of November 2021. Realistically, this Government probably has about 18 months left. The longer we need to wait for the rail review to be published, the fewer projects can commence under this Government. I appeal to the Minister to look beyond that delay at the moment because frankly he may need to publish it. I call on him to consider that. I know that in an ideal world we would do it in conjunction with the North, but the political climate at the moment may not be conducive. I urge him to consider publishing the report anyway.

There have been a number of references to what the report might contain and some very welcome references to the routes between Letterkenny and Derry, Athenry and Claremorris, and Wexford and Waterford. I hope those are contained in the review. As someone from Limerick, I have particular concerns about how prominently Limerick will feature in the strategic review. As the Minister knows, Jim Meade has said that Limerick is particularly well suited to a local rail network because the track is still available. We need to see what can be delivered sooner rather than later. I acknowledge that after my raising it several times, the decision to complete the track work on the Ballybrophy line was rolled up. It was due to take three years and it has been rolled up into one year, which I welcome. The journey time from Limerick through Castleconnell to Ballybrophy has now been reduced by 15 minutes which is very welcome. I use that line regularly and I have seen the numbers begin to improve, which is very welcome.

The North Tipperary Community Rail Partnership deserves particular credit because it has been driving that campaign for a number of years. It has a number of other suggestions and I would like to see the Minister's response to these. As the journey time on that line has now improved - I know further work remains to be done removing some of the gates that continue to slow it down - what we really need is a service in the middle of the day. At the moment I can get into Limerick in the morning and can get home just after 5 o'clock. However, we need a middle-of-the-day service to encourage more people to come in and out who do not intend to spend the whole day in Limerick city. It has been requested for a number of years and I hope the Minister will be able to deliver it in the near future. Some people were expecting it this year but it did not happen. I hope the Minister will deliver it in the following 12 months.

We also need a late-night service on that train for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. A number of us have spoken about the need to deliver a nighttime economy not just in Limerick but throughout the State. One key component is the ability to get home late at night by public transport.

We had a very positive announcement on BusConnects yesterday and I welcome a number of the announcements for Limerick city. However, key commuter towns outside Limerick city, such as Castleconnell, Murroe, Caherconlish and Newport in County Tipperary, were not included. It would take hundreds of cars off the road and enable many more people to get into and out of Limerick city if there were more regular bus services to those towns. At the moment, people need to wait in some instances between three and four hours for a bus. In this day and age that is just not acceptable. I was genuinely disappointed that the BusConnects group missed that opportunity. It was an obvious move to make which I had highlighted beforehand but it has not been done.The Minister might look to revisit that with regard to the connectivity issue. I welcome the Limerick to Foynes work, which is significant. I will ask him about the fact that many locals in County Limerick are asking for a greenway to go alongside that rail line. I have written to him, Limerick County Council and Irish Rail about it. I did not get a response from him, but I understand that. He is very busy. However, the response I received from the others was that it was not their business. We need joined-up thinking. A greenway makes perfect sense on that line. It would be a shame to see all that work done and then have to redo it again in years to come, when we recognise a greenway should be there. If travelling throughout Europe, it is common to see greenways alongside motorways and railways. That is the model we should approach. I would welcome the Minister's thoughts on that point.

I wish to raise the Galway line, because it has improved. Passenger numbers have improved, but the service is still very slow. It takes two hours. I can drive there in one hour, from the wrong side of Limerick to Galway. I wonder what plans the Minister has for speeding up the service. I am very encouraged by what he said about the station in Moyross. To be clear, I still to believe the North Circular Road needs to be added to free up Moyross and really open it up. The Minister will not agree with me on that, but that has been our consistent line. Can he confirm that the Moyross station will open within the next three years? He has mentioned the pathfinder project. It would be welcome if he could confirm it.

What other stations across Limerick is he considering? Limerick to Limerick Junction has tremendous potential for suburban and other stations to open up. We used to have stations there in the past. It is an easy win for the Government to do that. We are not looking at high costs to reopen those stations. I wish to understand where Limerick will stand in this strategic rail review.

I will revisit the issue of the rail spur to Shannon which, as another Senator mentioned, was ruled out on a cost basis 20 years ago, incorrectly. Shannon Airport needs that rail link. It would be crucial in acting as a counterweight to Dublin. We should not have a situation where more than 90% of flights leave from Dublin. Shannon seems to be on the way back, which I welcome, but it would be great to see confidence shown by the Government in that rail spur. It should not be considerably costly. It is quite a short distance from the existing Galway line to run a spur into Shannon Airport. I would expect that to be part of the strategic review deliverables. It would be a huge miss, if it was not there. I do not know how much the Minister can comment on that. I wish to understand where the double-tracking project between Limerick and Limerick Junction is at. These are important points to make.

I have covered most of the important points I wanted to make. Let us get as much delivered as we can. There has been an awful lot of talk about rail. We wish to see that supported but we need deliverables and timelines.