Murray says Irish Rail collude and discriminate against the west

Anton McNulty

A COUNTY councillor was accused by an Irish Rail employee of using ‘defamatory’ language against the company by accusing it of discrimination and collusion against investment in the west of Ireland.
The accusation was made against Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray who made a scathing attack on both Irish Rail and the Department of Transport accusing them of being in collusion with each other to confine rail investment to the east of the country.
The Charlestown-based councillor made the comments following a presentation by Irish Rail’s PR and Events Manager, Jane Cregan on the Mayo service at last week’s monthly meeting of Mayo County Council.
“Over the years we had a lot of engagement with Irish Rail and the Department of Transport and those two particular entities are hugely opposed to any rail investment west of the Shannon. There is a whole litany of anecdotes that prove that is the case,” Cllr Murray said.
He accused Irish Rail of releasing misleading passenger figures following the opening of phase one of the Western Rail Corridor from Ennis to Galway in order to undermine the business case for the opening of phase two of the Western Rail Corridor.
Cllr Murray also claimed that he was informed by the EU Commission that both Irish Rail and the Department of Transport wanted a EU grant aid package for infrastructure confined ‘exclusively to the east coast’.
Ms Cregan rejected that there was any collusion between Irish Rail and the Department of Transport against investment in the west of Ireland or that the company misled the public over WRC phase one passenger figures. She said that Cllr Murray’s comments were ‘quite defamatory’ and asked him to withdraw them.
Cllr Murray said he stood over them, adding that he received his information in Brussels where he said he has been told by the EU Commission that the problem with the lack of investment in the west of Ireland lay in Dublin and not Brussels.