Rail Network
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-12
============================================================

Linda Nelson Murray (FG), Industrial and Commercial Panel

I sincerely thank the Minister of State for coming in to discuss the Navan rail project, a project that has become almost mythical for the people of County Meath. When I mention the Navan rail line to people in my home town of Navan, they sigh. They do not believe it is happening. For 25 years, the people of Navan and Meath have heard promises, announcements, timelines and commitments. Generation after generation has listened to politicians say the railway is coming. Now I hear things like, "I'll be retired before it happens", "I'll be dead before it happens" or "Sure we've heard all that before". That is the level of frustration and disbelief that exists, yet today feels different. For the first time in a long time, we are not talking about vague ambition; we are talking about funding to move to planning permission, a public consultation on the preferred route within weeks and a real pathway towards delivery.
What the Minister of State says today matters enormously because the people of Meath need clarity and certainty. They need to hear clearly and unequivocally that this railway is happening and Navan will finally be connected to Dublin by rail. County Meath now has a population of over 230,000 people. We are one of the fastest growing counties in Ireland yet, every single morning, thousands of people are trapped in endless traffic on the M3. We are also the county with the highest number of commuters.
This is not just about inconvenience any more; it is affecting people's quality of life. Long commutes are linked to higher stress, anxiety, burnout, mental fatigue, work-family conflict, increased blood pressure and poor health conditions. Families are losing hours every day sitting in traffic instead of spending time with their children. This rail line is not a luxury project or a vanity project; it is essential national infrastructure. It is the single biggest transport investment we can deliver for County Meath, one that would remove thousands of cars from our roads every day, reduce congestion, support climate targets, improve quality of life and unlock economic growth for Meath and the wider region. Now is the moment. Let the people of Meath finally see the preferred route. Let them have their say through public consultation and let us move decisively towards planning permission and delivery.
After 25 years of waiting, the people of Meath deserve more than promises. They deserve progress. I hope that the Minister of State can confirm today that we remain on track for the next key milestone of planning permission, namely, a railway order in 2028.

---

Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted.

Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:55+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12