Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I return to the matter of the full reinstatement of the western rail corridor, specifically the 73.5 km stretch between Claremorris and Collooney. I have been left with no alternative but to raise this as a Commencement matter due to the inconsistent and unclear messaging from the Government.

I will give a little bit of background. As a previous speaker said, rail use in Ireland has changed and we, as a population, make more frequent use of rail and demand more services in the rail infrastructure. While the 1980s and 1990s saw prioritisation of road over rail for passengers and freight, attitudes, times and values have changed. In 2016, for example, The Sligo Champion reported that the Sligo-Dublin line was at risk of closing. Just 1.3 million passengers had used the route in 2015. These figures have steadily climbed, especially following the pandemic, and Irish Rail has seen significant passenger growth year on year. Passenger numbers grew from 17.8 million across the network in 2020 to 50.7 million in 2024. Irish Rail expects those numbers to have grown by 5 million in 2025. Freight rail has experienced a similar renaissance.

Times and contexts have changed since the decision was made to close the Claremorris to Collooney rail line. Rail is again recognised as an effective and efficient method of passenger and freight transit. We recognise the environmental benefits of rail and Iarnród Éireann has declared its goal is to be the backbone of Ireland's sustainable transport network.

All other phases of the western rail corridor have either been opened or approved for opening. To exclude Claremorris to Collooney not only denies the people and enterprises of Sligo a vital link to Mayo, Galway and beyond, but it jeopardises the integrity and logic of the entire corridor. Sligo has to connect to it in order for the corridor to achieve its potential. Without the Sligo connection, we risk condemning the corridor to disuse.

This rail corridor is a 73.5 km strip of land. In 2023, it was valued at €957 million. Its untapped value is the final piece of the jigsaw of reopening the western rail corridor. Comments from a number of Government politicians in recent weeks indicated they would like to see a greenway and that there are plans to install a greenway on the existing rail corridor. Will the Minister of State give a commitment that the existing stretch of rail line will be retained for rail use only, as has been indicated by Irish Rail, and that no other structure, including anything described as a temporary structure, should be permitted on it? The narrative we hear is a temporary greenway will be placed on the track to keep it in public ownership. That does not add up because it is already in public ownership. In this day and age, can we honestly see the waste of taxpayers' money involved in creating a temporary structure that will cost millions and then be ripped up to put in a rail line in the future? It makes no sense and is inconsistent with Government policy regarding the western rail corridor. Please, can we get a straight answer and put to bed the idea of a temporary greenway along the existing track?

I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and again apologise for being late. I am taking the matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who is genuinely apologetic he cannot be here.

The Department of Transport, together with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, published the rail project prioritisation strategy last year. This strategy outlines how to best sequence and optimise the recommendations of the all-island strategic rail review, which was published in July 2024. The strategy specifies short-term rail infrastructure investments, referred to as early interventions, to be delivered by 2030, including new track, passing loops and platforms to boost the rail network’s resilience and capacity, which are funded under the NDP sectoral investment plan for transport published by the Department in November 2025. The strategy also identifies major projects to be progressed in the longer run, involving intercity electrification and significant capacity upgrades on the rail network. This includes the reinstatement of the western rail corridor between Claremorris and Athenry. The NDP sectoral investment plan also provides funding to help commence this reinstatement project.

Modelling undertaken as part of the rail review published in 2024 found that investments on the disused line between Claremorris and Sligo and onwards to Donegal would result in very low demand for passenger rail services and that building a railway would have a significant adverse impact on the environment. For these reasons, the project was not included in the recommendations of the rail review; hence it was not identified as a major project to be progressed in the rail project prioritisation strategy.

However, the rail review will be reviewed and updated once a decade. This review will provide the opportunity to reconsider a potential extension of the western rail corridor further north, taking account of the latest policies and developments, for example, if there is an increased passenger demand as a result of the reinstatement of the line between Claremorris and Athenry.

In relation to the proposed greenway between Claremorris and Collooney, the section of the disused railway from Claremorris to Bellaghy has never been included as a scheme within the greenways programme, which is funded by the Department of Transport through Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. Sponsoring authorities, generally local authorities, may submit a case for annual funding to TII for consideration in relation to the greenway schemes. Separately, on the section of the disused railway line in County Mayo, to date, no submission has been received by TII from Mayo County Council in relation to progressing a greenway route between Claremorris and Charlestown. A feasibility study cannot be completed on a greenway scheme that has not been submitted for consideration of funding by the relevant sponsoring authority for review by TII.

The section of the disused railway from Bellaghy to Sligo was an active scheme within the greenways programme until the end of last year. As part the development of this scheme, a third public consultation was held in November of 2024 regarding the emerging preferred corridor. The emerging preferred corridor was centred on the disused railway line, which remains in the ownership of Irish Rail, or Iarnród Éireann. Iarnród Éireann communicated in December 2024 that it was no longer able to support the greenway on the existing alignment at this time. Accordingly, Sligo County Council initiated a review in mid-2025 to ascertain if it is feasible to accommodate a greenway and a railway on the railway corridor. This review took account of the available width of the corridor as well as parameters maintained by Iarnród Éireann in relation to the offset distances required between a railway line and a greenway corridor.

This review concluded that it was not possible to accommodate both modes within the railway corridor. The report also reviewed the potential to develop an alongside option that would be guided by the principle of aligning the greenway parallel to the disused railway line. It concluded that this was not feasible due to a range of factors including increased cost, the potential impact on special areas of conservation and land acquisition, as well as various engineering challenges. On this basis, Sligo County Council opted to suspend work on the greenway scheme in late 2025 as the alongside option was not a viable option. I hope that this helps clarify the matter for Senator Cosgrove.

It was my understanding, and the Minister of State has cleared it up, that there is going to be no greenway on this rail structure, which is wonderful. Unfortunately, our local representatives in Sligo are continuing to press, saying that there is an option to have a greenway developed here, whereas in Mayo and Galway all the politicians from Opposition parties and all parties have come together and this is why they have made a very firm case, and they have seen it. In fairness to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, he has done Trojan work on this because he is passionate about having balanced development and opening up the western rail corridor.

Am I right in saying that there is going to be nothing except rail infrastructure on the existing line? My reading from the Minister of State's response is that there is going to be no greenway on the existing railway.

As previously mentioned, there are no active schemes within the greenways programme planned for any section of the disused western rail corridor between Claremorris and Collooney. The all-Ireland strategic rail review sets out 32 strategic recommendations to enhance and expand the rail system in Ireland and Northern Ireland on a phased basis up to 2050. Included in these recommendations is the reinstatement of the western rail corridor between Claremorris and Athenry. This project was also identified as a major project to be progressed under the rail project prioritisation strategy published in December of last year. The NDP sectoral investment plan published by my Department in November also includes funding to help commence this reinstatement project. The section between Claremorris and Collooney is not included in the recommendations of the rail review strategy. The rail review will again be reviewed and updated once a decade, taking into account, as I said, the latest policies and developments, which point to potential extension of the western rail corridor further north to Collooney, and can be then reconsidered. I will ask the office of the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, to liaise with the Senator if she has any further questions.

I thank the Minister of State very much for his time this morning. I thank Senators for their engagement on the Commencement matters.