Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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503. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if the all-island strategic rail review was considered as part of the NDP review; the details of how its recommendations were considered; the criteria he intends to use to rank projects in order of priority as part of the pipeline; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42845/25]

Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent)
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As the Deputy may be aware, the All-Island Strategic Rail Review was undertaken by my Department in co-operation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland and the Review’s Final Report was published in 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.

Assisted by the European Investment Bank (EIB) Advisory Services, my Department, the Department for Infrastructure, and agencies north and south, are working to progress the Report’s recommendations in the years ahead. As part of this work, a Project Prioritisation Strategy, which considers how best to optimise the sequencing and implementation of the Review recommendations, is at an advanced stage of preparation and is planned for publication later this year.

This Strategy considered factors including an interventions alignment with Strategic Objectives such as decarbonising the rail service and providing regional and rural connectivity, as well as an assessment of Delivery Needs, such as the need to remove key bottlenecks from the rail network, when considering the sequence of implementation of projects in the Rail Review.

The strategy has helped inform my Department’s engagement as part of the National Development Plan (NDP) Review.

The NDP Review was recently published and the Department of Transport's annual capital allocations from 2026 to 2030, and the Government's overall capital expenditure ceilings to 2035 were confirmed as part of this Review. My Department is reviewing key programmes and projects in the transport sector in the context of that capital funding envelope and a decision on a programme of delivery with this level of capital investment will be made in the coming months.