Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the Strategic Rail Reviewis being undertaken in co-operation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland. The results of the review will inform the development of the railway sector on the Island of Ireland over the coming decades.

A draft report is currently being finalised. The draft report will be submitted for approval to Ministers in Ireland and Northern Ireland, as well as the Irish Government. After the necessary approvals have been secured, my Department will publish the report.

The Strategic Rail Review considers the future of the rail network with regard to the following ambitions: improving sustainable connectivity between the major cities including the potential for higher/high-speed, enhancing regional accessibility, supporting balanced regional development and rail connectivity to our international gateways. This also includes the role of rail freight.

As part of this, the Reviewconsiders the scope for improved rail services and infrastructure along the various existing, or potential future, corridors of the network including disused and closed lines. The Review has been informed by a public consultation process which concluded last year and which received a great response both North and South.

The Government has previously stated its belief in the potential of rail. It is important that we address constraints in the rail sector and pursue a strategy which allows rail to fulfil its potential as a sustainable mode of transport as we move to decarbonise the transport sector, as well as meeting rural connectivity objectives and as a generator of prosperity for people across Ireland.

The Strategic Rail Reviewwill assist in, and inform, that and I look forward to its completion. It is the first all-island review of the network since the formation of the State and will provide a framework to develop a much-improved rail network in the decades ahead.