Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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159. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the submissions to the All-Island Strategic Rail Review will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42229/24]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the All-Island Strategic Rail Review was undertaken by the Department of Transport in co-operation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland. Following two public consultations, the Review’s Final Report was published on the 31st of July 2024.

The Review's Final Report sets out 32 strategic recommendations to enhance and expand the rail system in Ireland and Northern Ireland up to 2050, aligning with net carbon zero commitments in both jurisdictions. The recommendations seek to transform the quality of the rail system to the benefit of passengers and wider society on the island, through additional track capacity, electrification, increased speeds, higher service frequencies and new routes.

The Final Review Report will inform the development of rail on the Island of Ireland in the coming decades to 2050. It should be noted that individual projects referred to in the Report will be subject to funding and relevant approvals as required under the Infrastructure Guidelines in Ireland.

A public consultation was undertaken for the Review between November 2021 and January 2022 to gather views of the public and stakeholders on the role of rail and priorities for investment. More than 7,000 submissions were received. These responses formed a key input into the draft Review Report’s recommendations.

The draft Review Report was published for the purpose of a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) public consultation, which ran from July to September 2023. A total of 474 responses were received, with the vast majority of comments related to non-SEA issues.

A summary of the SEA related responses and updates made to the SEA documents as a result is published in the Appendix B of the SEA Statement published alongside the Final Report.

The Final Report provides a summary of comments received as part of the SEA consultation and the updates made to the Final Report to take account of them, which is set out in Appendix A of the Final Report. However, it is not intended to publish the individual submissions received as part of the public consultation.

Assisted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) Advisory Services, the Department of Transport and Department for Infrastructure, and agencies north and south, are working to progress the Report’s recommendations in the years ahead. This includes a more detailed identification of rail priorities to pursue over the next decade. Progress in following-up on the Rail Review will be reported on as appropriate through the North South Ministerial Council.