Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)

There is no pressure at all on me, I would say.

I thank Members for their contributions. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself when I hear people talking nowadays compared to in 2004 when I joined the intercounty rail committee. We were maybe an organisation that was not proud of what we were doing. We had the vision but it took us a long time to get to a stage where we could convince people, including politicians. Between 2016 and 2020 - actually, it was later - we drafted a letter that we sent to the then Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan. We had every party and none sign that letter supporting railway. When I listen to what everybody wants, I say, "Jeepers, there must be something here". And there is. We have a huge success story but we have not matched it with investment over the years. A simple example is the western rail corridor phase 1 from Ennis to Athenry. That line sees 750,000 passenger journeys per year now. Back when it was opened in 2010 or 2011, that number was something like 132,000.

When people say they want more carriages - I talk to Mr. Jim Meade about this - it means we would have to extend the platforms. That is grand and we will get on and do it. It is a great story that we are talking about it. I do not think there is anybody in the House who has any doubts about what we want to do, and not just in the context of the all-island rail review. At this stage, I want to do one thing. I also acknowledge the work of the Athair Mícheál Mac Gréil. This is just the vision he had back in the seventies when the railway line between Athenry and Claremorris was closed. He insisted that Irish Rail leave the line in place. Now we can actually do that project without the need for a rail order. We are refurbishing it. The same thing has happened between Limerick and Foynes Port. That is being done. The railway is there. It is freight only at the moment, but it has the capacity to take passengers. The next phase is to put in all the signalling and junctions and then commission the line and test it with trains. I am expecting that we will have that up and running with trains on it in 2027. We will build on that then.

I am picking these out as I go along. Taking Sligo as an example, I refer to the Claremorris to Collooney line. Irish Rail has confirmed that this line is not available for anything other than railway use. Going back to 2004, there was a very slim chance that we were going to build any railway or do anything with rail. The whole thing has changed. What we need to do is change with it and change our attitude. People in my neck of the woods are wondering about the western rail corridor. What we are doing with all of the projects is that some of them are with the European Investment Bank, which is preparing the cost-benefit analyses. I hope to have a version of those in the next month or so. Then we will see what we are going to do.

As Senator Blaney mentioned, we need a programme. That programme will set out all the projects we have to do and will indicate when they are going to start and when they are going to finish. Some projects are shovel ready. There are about 20 passing lanes needed in different places around Ireland. Planning permission and all of that is required in respect of those. These passing lanes mean that there can be additional frequency. Senator Kyne knows how long it took to get the Oranmore project up and running. Irish Rail has the expertise to help us deliver on our ambition.

One of our sons was in London for 14 years. He never had a car because he had access to public transport. If he needed a car, he could hire one for a weekend if he was going someplace. He never needed a car. We have train stations that are closed. If they reopened, there is probably ten to 15 acres of land beside each of them that could be used for park-and-ride facilities and to allow pedestrian access. Most of these stations are located within the centre of the towns. The philosophy is easy. What we need to do is get going with it. My commitment to the House is that the Department and I will continue to work closely on this to ensure that we get projects that are shovel ready started as quickly as possible and that we prepare other projects in order that we will have a pipeline for the next 20 years.

In relation to the Sligo line from Claremorris to Collooney, there will be a review of the all-island rail review in about ten years or so. It might be quicker than that depending on the success of projects ahead of it. When Eamon Ryan decided to build a line from Limerick to Foynes, he probably tripled the cost-benefit analysis case for opening the western rail corridor because now there is a port in close proximity. We also have a connection between Ballina, Westport and all these places down to Clare and then on to Foynes. We can go down to Cork and to Waterford Port. We have three ports. I call it the Atlantic rail corridor. It is also the Atlantic economic corridor. We need rail to do that.

There are a lot of eggs in the basket. I have to start picking out eggs, cracking them and frying them. How many projects can we do over the lifetime of the national development plan in order that there will be a continuous roll-out? Can we have confidence in the industry and civil engineering business to build these over the next ten, 15 or 20 years? It is important that we answer these questions. That is where I am at with it at the moment. There were a lot of issues, including safety. When the number of train journeys per year increase from 132,000 to 750,000, you are going to have problems. Safety is an issue. That is being looked at by Irish Rail in conjunction with the Department.

Just going through the other things, we also have the issue of Meath. I know all about it. Deputy Gillian Toole lives in this area.