Conference hears calls for rail re-opening

The infrastructural inequalities experienced by the West and North-West were laid bare at a major conference in Sligo.

The conference, organised by West on Track and hosted by Sligo Chamber, heard calls for urgent infrastructural investment in the West including the completion of the final leg of the Western Rail Corridor project to Sligo

More than 300 people attended the conference in the Raddison Blu Hotel in Sligo with a large cross-party attendance from TDs, MEPs, Senators, councillors and election candidates.

More than 80 towns were represented and there was also strong representation from multi-national and indigenous businesses and freight interests.

The conference was chaired by Paul Deering, Editor of the Sligo Champion newspaper.

Welcoming the large attendance on behalf of Sligo Chamber, David Kiely noted that the North-West region had been downgraded to a ‘Lagging Region’ by the European Commission when its GDP per head of population fell to 71% of the European average, and is now ranked 218th out of 234 in terms of infrastructural development with only 16 regions worse off in the European Union.

In his official address, the Mayor of Sligo, Cllr Declan Bree, said that poor transport infrastructure has hindered the region’s potential.

“If transport access infrastructure is not upgraded, there is far greater certainty that the North-West region and Sligo will continue to lag even further behind the more developed Eastern and Southern regions. IDA client companies, manufacturers, small and medium-sized enterprises and those involved in the agricultural and food production sector in Sligo and Mayo are all seeking the reopening of the Western Rail Corridor,” he said.

The conference heard presentations from Dr Orla Flynn, President of the Atlantic Technological University (ATU), economist Dr John Bradley, Joe Gilmore (Chief Executive, Ireland West Airport), Mike Devane (Atlantic Economic Corridor chambers group) and John Daly, economist with the Northern and Western Regional Assembly.

Mr Daly provided put forward the case for ‘positive discrimination’ for the region.

“Unless there is a significant intervention from central government, these trends are likely to worsen in the coming years, leading to underdevelopment in the Northern and Western Region of Ireland and overdevelopment in the Greater Dublin Area; an unsustainable trend which will undermine the quality of life of all citizens across Ireland.

“As such, it is clear that the revised National Planning Framework and the existing National Development Plan (2021-2030) need to adopt a new approach in tackling rising regional inequalities in Ireland, and this approach should focus on adopting a policy of 'Positive Discrimination' towards the Northern and Western Region of Ireland."

Dr John Bradley, whose economic analysis has set out the strong business case for the Western Rail Corridor, eviscerated previous reports on rail transport and the regions.

“The report, All Island Strategic Rail Review, produced by Arup for the Department of Transport was so badly drafted that we struggled for months to deconstruct and understand it. It seems designed to beguile and confuse rather than to instruct and explain. It is a long-term ‘strategy’ with no real strategic thinking behind it. It displays a worrying level of ignorance about the dynamic performance of the Irish economy in recent decades, while its treatment of the four major regions on the island is cursory and shallow.

“Our analysis showed that a rail journey time from Sligo to Galway would be approximately 2 hours 10 minutes. Such a journey, in comfort with the ability to work on the move, would certainly be a major attraction. The total cost of re–opening of the line was estimated at €412 million, significantly less than the cost of a single kilometre of the proposed Dublin Metro,” said Dr Bradley.

Helen Rochford-Brennan, of West on Track, also contributed to proceedings, delivering an impassioned call for the completion of the Western Rail Corridor.

“The likelihood that the Galway line is soon to reopen as far north as Claremorris offers an important opportunity for Sligo, as it means that the Sligo-Galway line will then be more than 60% operational. Mayo’s industries will then be able to use the WRC line for moving raw materials and finished products southwards via Claremorris, saving time and money and reducing their carbon footprint. The same opportunity now needs to be afforded to the rest of Mayo and Sligo,” said Ms Rochford-Brennan.