Rail Network
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Jerry Buttimer (FG), Cork South-Central

I share the Deputy's point that the Department and the Minister and Minister of State are fully supportive of investment in rail. The Deputy's ambition for north Tipperary and the areas he has mentioned is correct. The All-Island Strategic Rail Review will be the pillar on which we will outline our approach, that is, the Department's approach, to sequencing and optimising the recommendations in the coming years. The important point is that, in the short term to 2030, the prioritisation strategy specifies a number of early interventions to be delivered in the coming years, which include a new platform at Limerick Junction, which will support through services between Cork and Galway via Limerick and more movements from Cork to Limerick. It also includes a passing loop at Clonmel, which will achieve that two hourly service between Limerick and Waterford. In addition, there are the pieces around electrification and line speed on the Dublin-Cork, Dublin-Belfast and Belfast-Limerick Junction lines. Under the All-Island Strategic Rail Review, in the context of Limerick-Ballybrophy, the ambition is to increase the service frequency to a two hourly service in each direction on that line. It should also be noted that projects referred to in the rail review and prioritising strategy will be advanced by Government in the context of the infrastructure guidelines.
Again, the points made by the Deputy are pertinent.
The ambition the Deputy speaks about is one that we have as a Department. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and I look forward to the progression of the recommendations of the rail review over the coming years in the Limerick region. I certainly hope that our successors here, whether they are celebrating 200 years of Fianna Fáil or whatever, will not have to have this conversation about the important point the Deputy makes. The argument has been won. He is right, and I thank him for his contribution. It is our job to make sure that we make improvements on the line, for increased travel and shorter times, so that the next generation and this generation can have commuter rail, which is what we all badly need.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12