I am glad to confirm that my Department has engaged with Iarnród Éireann on a possible future station in the Killucan–Kinnegad area. An initial discussion on the potential reopening of Killucan station took place between my Department and Iarnród Éireann on 15 June 2022. Following this discussion, Iarnród Éireann was asked by my Department to prepare an estimate of the level of funding that might be required to progress a feasibility study considering new station options in Killucan and the surrounding area.

Earlier this year, my Department met again with Iarnród Éireann and subsequently made funding available to the company to allow it to undertake a Killucan–Rathwire and Kinnegad area transport environs study. As well as considering the former station at Killucan, the wider geographic scope of the environs study will help to ensure the optimal location for any future potential station is identified with respect to population, transport demand and proximity to the existing network. This study will provide the necessary analysis to determine the viability of a future station in the area if such a station is deemed appropriate by the study. Ultimately, if the opening of a new station in the area is to be progressed, it will be necessary for Westmeath County Council to develop the business case in line with the requirements of the public spending code. I am informed that the council has been informed of this position; however, this study is a vital first step and it is appropriate that it be funded by my Department.

The Deputy may wish to note the ongoing work on the all-island strategic rail review, the results of which will inform the development of the railway sector in Ireland over the coming decades.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 45, 52 and 53 together.

Fish counters are one of a range of indices used by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI) to contribute to the scientific and management assessments of salmon stocks carried out each year.

Details of data from counters, the verification of that data and where counters are located, based on maximising the use of technology and optimising geographic distribution in the management of salmon stocks, are operational matters for IFI in which neither I nor my department have any role.

IFI has established a specific email address for queries from Oireachtas members so that queries can be addressed promptly, in line with IFI’s objective to deliver services to the highest standards. The email address is oireachtas@fisheriesireland.ie.

Ireland’s current Long-term Strategy on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions was approved by Government on Tuesday, 25 April 2023 and is available on gov.ie

While a comprehensive draft was prepared in 2019, publication was deferred in order to reflect the enhanced ambition brought about by the 2020 Programme for Government. That enhanced ambition includes:

• a legally binding national 2050 climate neutrality target;

• provision for a 51% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030 compared to 2018 levels;

• national Carbon Budgets and Sectoral Emissions Ceilings and an updated Climate Action Plan published in December 2022, which sets out the policies, measures, and actions to achieve our climate targets.

The current Long-term Strategy now complements and builds upon these climate policy developments ensuring coherent and effective climate policy. It is underpinned by analysis of transition options across each key sector of the economy and sets out indicative pathways that provide a crucial link between Ireland’s 2030 climate targets and the long-term goal set by Ireland’s ‘National Climate Objective’ and the European Climate Law.

The current strategy has been shaped by cross-departmental input and responses received to an extensive public consultation in 2019. Notwithstanding this, my Department will shortly launch a second consultation on the strategy in light of important climate policy developments since then. This will form the basis for preparing an updated Strategy by the end of this year as committed to in the Annex of Actions that accompanied Climate Action Plan 2023.

Unfortunately, this was a situation where housing was delivered first and the transport has lagged behind. Since this train station closed in the 1960s, the area has seen a massive rise in population of approximately 300%. About 8,000 people live within 5 km of this station. If you extrapolate from those figures, the population numbers get higher and higher. The line is there. It already exists. What is lacking to provide a reliable and sustainable mode of public transport for people in that area is for the trains to stop at a train station.

I have looked at this issue and the local area in detail. The historical train station is 1 km or 2 km from the village of Killucan and there is no housing adjacent to the station. This is one of the issues the council must consider. If we do put a station, where will we put it on such a route? What are the housing plans for the area? It would be hugely beneficial if we connected the two and made sure it was not a station removed by any distance from the main housing centres.