Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, is welcome to the House. I thank him very much for outlining the plans thus far in relation to all-island rail projects.

We have had statements in the House numerous times, certainly during the last term, where the all-island rail review was talked about. In particular, I remember when the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, was here. We were pushing hard to have it published. The Northern Ireland minister, Ms Nichola Mallon, was a great advocate for the Belfast-Derry link, given the massive population between those two cities and the substandard level of rail there at the moment. In fairness to then Minister, Eamon Ryan, he wanted to hold back the rail review until a new minister was in place once Ms Mallon stood down.

What role does the Minister for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland now play in the all-island rail review and in these projects? I have concerns on a number of fronts. Back in 2000 when the first national development plan was announced for road motorways, we were left out at a time when there was the same daily traffic at the halfway point between Dublin and Donegal in Omagh as the Galway-Dublin route had. The latter has its motorway now but we are still fighting. I heard a Sinn Féin representative talking about the Sinn Féin vision. The Sinn Féin vision has left us, now for the second time, without the ability to go ahead with the A5. I wonder what impact, or what role the Northern Ireland minister, has and how much the North is pushing the Belfast-Derry route.

City status has now been given to the region. I listened to my colleague talking earlier about looking to have money for a business case analysis. We do not want and do not need a business case. We have been kicked down the road far enough. We have the population. The connectivity from Letterkenny to Derry is in the review. We need to get things moving now. Currently, the rail journey from Derry to Belfast takes 2.5 hours. You would not need a massive spend on the existing rail line to get it up to a decent standard. A smart approach would be to look at that sooner rather than later.

We are finding it hard to catch up in the west and the north west. Given that we have lost out so much since the 1960s, particularly in relation to rail, I would have thought more emphasis would be put on the rail review being front-loaded and bringing the areas that were deprived up to speed with the rest, as other Members have talked about. I ask the Minister of State to go back and have a review of our strategy. Moreover, I would like to see the rail review actually set out a programme of events whereby we timeline these projects, as TII does for roadway projects. Until we get there, we are not really going to know where we are with any drive for rail or with when our projects are going to start and finish. It has to happen. All of those projects have to be laid out.

In Donegal, I do not get a chance to take coffee on a train - I take a coffee in my car at the local petrol station - but I look forward to the day that I do. Connecting Donegal is not that difficult. There are three avenues. Outside the Down connection, there is also the avenue we used to go by, down by Dungannon, and also a connection via Sligo.

One of the picturesque old photographs still around is of the Barnesmore Gap. The old train used to go there and there are sill photographs of it here and there. I heard what somebody said about upping tourism. It would be a great advantage to the Wild Atlantic Way to have a better rail service in the west.