Western Rail Corridor an acid test for new government

WEST TEST Minister for Transport and Communications Eamon Ryan, TD in conversation with Fianna FΡil TD for Galway West, Éamon Ó Cuív. Pic: Maxwells

The Government update to Project Ireland 2040 in coming weeks is a chance for them to show how they are planning for life post Covid-19. Obviously there will be a certain curtailing of budgets, but in times like these, stimuli from the Government are needed more than ever.
It will be particularly interesting to see the lessons can the Government absorb from Covid-19 and put into practice. The document should look considerably different to how it  looked pre-Covid.
The reality of life for people in recent weeks and months should lead to systemic changes in how people are able to live post-Covid. Many more will seek to work from home. For some, this could be the chance to move away from urban sprawls like Dublin, opening the doors for a much more balanced distribution of people in the country.
We know of countless number of Mayo people domiciled elsewhere in the country who, when able working from home during lockdown, based themselves in Mayo rather than in their adopted home. Quality of life, more family time and much greater affordability are some of the many advantages to being able to locate yourself in the regions. Should we not desire this choice for our people?
In our ongoing series What’s Best for the West, many argued on the need for a greater encouragement of enterprise and jobs in the regions and in rural Ireland. There may never be a more timely opportunity but it needs to be grasped.
How will the new government approach the issue of broadband post-Covid? The National Broadband Plan is projected at being five to seven years away. Leaving to one side all the legitimate complaints about how it has been formulated, does now not present the perfect opportunity to accelerate its delivery? It has proven the single biggest stumbling block for people who want to live in rural communities.
We heard from Erris-based TV producer CiarΡn O’Hara who told of needing to have three different broadband providers, just to ensure he has a reliable connection. Three different providers, and three different bills! Just think about that for a moment.

It’s time to take the train
So the coming weeks will be an acid test for Government attitude to rural Ireland and the regions.
Looking specifically at the west, one of the projects up for consideration is the Western Rail Corridor, the closed railway line from Athenry to Sligo (the Limerick to Athenry section has reopened and has been very successful).
Our What’s Best for the West series has explored a wide range of opportunities and challenges for the region. After six weeks, we’ve interviewed a diverse range of politicians to get their views on all manner of matters concerning this region and what needs to change in order for it to better fulfill its undoubted potential. While there were differences in opinion, there was also a lot of consensus on some key matters.
It was extraordinary how all of them, unprompted, brought matters back to both Knock Airport and the Western Rail Corridor.
Knock was held up as a beacon of front-loaded investment. Based on the figures at the time, many thought it was a foolish investment. But Monsignor James Horan had a lot more vision than most and saw the huge potential in the project.
You will do well to find anyone in the west now who does not think Knock is an invaluable resource for the region. However, at most turns, it has been looked down upon as an inconvenience, a burden, by government after government.
While Monsignor Horan decided to ask for forgiveness afterwards rather than permission before – and the visionary cleric was probably more qualified for this than most – those campaigning for the Western Rail Corridor are taking the opposite approach.
They have lobbied and canvassed on the need for the reopening of the line for decades and, much like Knock, have often met with, at best, government indifference.
As Rose Conway-Walsh said in these pages last week, spending in the west is often seen as a cost whereas in more built-up areas of the country, particularly the east coast, such spending is seen as an investment.
All the politicians we spoke to, from all parties and none, spoke of the huge potential and strategic importance of the Western Rail Corridor being extended, first to Claremorris and eventually to Sligo as a vehicle, literally, to change the region’s future.
If this Fianna FΡil/Fine Gael/Green government is serious about balanced regional development – and we’ve seen so many of the advantages of doing so in recent months – then investing in a project like the Western Rail Corridor is a meaningful way of putting their money where their mouth is.

Meaningful investment
The decision rests with Green party leader, Eamonn Ryan, the Minister for Transport and Communications.
The Greens are often lampooned in rural Ireland for being out of touch. Here is a chance to show that is a fallacy, that they see rural Ireland as more than a place from which the population should be drained. That they see a meaningful future for this region.
And they, and their Government partners, ought to see rail as a very viable long-term, sustanable option as we move to a time when people will be encouraged to use public transport over cars, where possible.
All the talk about the importance of rural Ireland in Project Ireland 2040 is not worth the paper it is written on unless it is followed up by meaningful action, meaningful investment.
With the land kept in State ownership since the closure of the railway line in the 1970s, the prohibitive costs that might be associated with such a railway line are absent.
The Western Rail Corridor has the potential to be a hugely positive first step in a different approach to the regions and to the west. The current government can change the mindset where spending in the regions is often seen as a burden rather than an investment.
Now, more than ever, we need to build up strong communities and strong regions to counter-balance the utter chaos that Dublin has become.
Does this current government have the vision and the will to think differently? Time will tell.