Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 October 2013
467. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the details of correspondence between his Department and the EU Committee on Petitions to date in 2013 regarding the European Regional Development Fund, the western rail corridor and the Atlantic corridor; his proposals to address the issues raised by the committee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43652/13]
View answerI received a letter earlier this year from the Chair of the Petitions Committee of the European Parliament regarding a complaint in relation to the allocation of EU funding for transport. I will arrange for a copy of my response to be sent to the Deputy. In my response I refuted the claim by the Petitioner that the Government, and my Department in particular, has discriminated against the West/North West of Ireland in terms of capital infrastructure investment and EU funds. I pointed out that neither the BMW Region nor the Irish exchequer has lost out on or under-claimed ERDF funding. In fact the allocation for public transport in the BMW region was increased during the programme period. I also confirmed that Phase 1 of the Western Rail Corridor (WRC) has been included in the revised Ten-T Comprehensive Network from 2014 which was agreed with the European Parliament under the Irish Presidency.
I pointed out in my response that a priority for the West is to continue progress on the Atlantic Corridor motorway which will also link to the Dublin-Galway motorway. The section from Ennis to Gort was completed in 2010 and earlier this year I gave approval to progress the Gort to Tuam section as a PPP project. In relation to public transport, I recently opened a new rail station at Oranmore. I have no plans to extend the Western Rail Corridor as there are no funds to develop new rail links in any part of the country or to provide subsidies for loss making routes.
