Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is great to speak today on the Private Members' motion and I thank my colleagues in Fine Gael for tabling it.

I have four topics to speak on and I will be quick. When a representative of the Department of Transport is in the Chamber, it is too important not to cover as much as possible. I represent County Meath. My fellow Senators will never guess what I want to talk about relating to County Meath. What is the elephant in the room? It is the Navan rail line. I bet they have not heard that one before. County Meath had a population of 230,000 people according to the most recent census, carried out in 2022. I have no doubt the current figure is way more than that. Only this morning, my sister-in-law texted me from the bus she got at 5.30 a.m. from Navan. It was full by 5.40 a.m. at the Johnstown stop, which is just outside Navan. This is to get in work in Dublin. Never mind that the bus also has to stop at Dalgan Park and Garlow Cross before it sets off on its journey to Dublin. I have no doubt it had to leave people behind. Does the Minister of State know that the people of Meath spend more time commuting to Dublin than those in any other county in Ireland? We have buses at capacity at peak times, we have the M3, which is basically a carpark at Blanchardstown in the mornings, and yet we have over 3,500 people per day leaving Navan, never mind all the other towns, to get to Dublin to work. This does not include the people leaving for hospital appointments, college or university. We are desperate for this rail line in Navan. When the public consultation was released on this two years ago, over 4,000 responses were sent in, such is the want for this in our county. This project was promised 20 years ago and many people bought their homes in Navan in good faith, expecting a train line. Then nothing.

Moving forward from the 1850s when we actually had a train line in Navan to now, it is only 175 years later and we learn we are going to get the train. Consultants have been appointed and we are on our way - choo-choo. I was informed at a meeting with Iarnród Éireann that a route will be identified by the end of this year and decided upon by next year, with public consultation as part of the process. However, I feel like I am watching a kettle that is never going to boil. Such is the frustration of people in Meath that many of them do not think it will ever actually happen. Can we blame them, in fairness? Will the Minister of State guarantee that this project will be completed? Will he assure us that when it is completed, it will be within budget? If he can give me those answers, thousands of people in Meath will be very happy today.

The next issue I will mention is that of fairer fares, which my Fianna Fáil colleagues mentioned previously. I was glad the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, said he was hoping to see it sped up. We need more than hoping to see it sped up. We were promised this would be done by the end of this first quarter and I hope we will see it done. My colleague in Meath East, Councillor Sharon Tolan, has put a lot of work into this and I would like to see it happen as soon as possible.

My next topic is the bus stops. In Meath, we get €500,000 a year to construct bus stops.That is €500,000 for the whole county. With the average bus shelter costing approximately €30,000, this creates 16 shelters for the entire county. Remember that we have the most commuters of any county outside of Dublin. We are getting just €500,000 for bus stops. If we are encouraging people to use public transport, we need to have covered shelters in as many places as possible-----