Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Brendan Quinn who has done Trojan work in assembling this petition of 26,000 signatures, 9,000 of which emanate from my county of Galway, and Mr. John Mulligan who is another stalwart campaigner for common sense and for the reinstatement of a vital piece of public infrastructure connecting Athenry to Sligo. It has lain idle for 40 years, bringing no benefit whatsoever to the communities it should and could serve. I respectfully ask the committee that an absolute priority be afforded to this petition. I do not know what the bar is for a petitioner to be heard before the petitions committee or how many signatures one needs. Certainly, I suspect few petitions of 26,000 signatures come before the committee. We have a huge groundswell of public support in the western region for this to happen. What we are asking for is straightforward. It is not complicated. It is that until a rail service is reinstated on that line, bearing in mind that the All-Island Rail Review only recommends a rail service for the section from Athenry to Claremorris, the route be developed as a greenway. It would bring immediate economic and well-being benefits to the people who live along the line from Athenry to Sligo. It makes absolute sense to create a greenway there in the interim.

The All Island Rail Review has no timeline or budget and a recent report prepared for the Cabinet identified a €13 billion hole in our current national development plan, which sets out our transport infrastructure investment priorities between now and 2040. There is no mention of the western rail corridor anywhere in that plan and it has a €13 billion deficit before we even start. Logic and common sense suggest that this piece of publicly-owned infrastructure could be brought back into use for the benefit of the people who live along the route. That is why 26,000 people committed their names to supporting the petition. To them it makes sense to do this now. I thank the members of the committee for facilitating me to be here today and respectfully ask that this petition be afforded the maximum priority.