David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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67. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his plans to enhance commuter rail services in Cork owing to the contribution that rail transport can make to meeting climate change obligations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1738/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Decarbonisation of our society and economy is obviously a key policy priority for Government and transport has a significant role to play in that regard.

An important part of that role is the expansion of sustainable mobility options in our major urban centres and across the country to enable people to make the switch toward more sustainable transport modes – active travel, bus and rail. This will require significant investment in our infrastructure and our services;  the Programme for Government - Our Shared Future commits toward such a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland and I look forward to fulfilling that commitment.

As the Deputy is probably aware, transport investment in all the major cities is guided by the development of metropolitan area transport strategies. 

The Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS), which was published last year, adopts the multi-modal approach to transport planning that has proven successful in many city regions internationally; it provides the necessary evidence-based, and plan-led framework that can guide investment in Cork over the short, medium, and longer term. 

CMATS has a number of significant public transport proposals across bus, commuter rail and light rail, together with the proposed transformation of active travel infrastructure in the city region.  For rail, CMATS proposes a radically improved commuter rail network from Mallow to Midleton.  It is also proposed to develop a light rail service running on an east to west corridor across the city and, in advance of its introduction, BusConnects Cork will deliver a high-capacity, high-frequency bus corridor along the route.

It is certainly my intention that the ongoing review of the National Development Plan will be informed by the development of CMATS and provide for the phased introduction of its improvements, including those proposals in relation to rail, in the coming years. I am also eager to explore opportunities that may exist in the context of possible EU funding and my Department is currently considering potential options in that regard also.

I look forward to working with the Deputy and other colleagues in the years ahead on the implementation of CMATS.