I move amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "this committee" and insert the following:
"- notes that, following the publication of the strategic rail review, the Minister for Transport has made consultancy advice and the advice of his officials available to the regional authorities regarding the western rail corridor,
- calls on the Minister for Transport to continue his Department's discussions with the regional authorities in the preparation of regional planning guidelines, determining the appropriate land use and settlement strategies for the regions and identifying the future infrastructural needs of those regions in terms of roads and public transport and
- notes that the Minister has asked Irish Rail to continue to facilitate the regional authorities in their work, as it has done in the case of the Cork rail study".
I wish to explain the Government side's thinking on this motion. I would like to think that there is not a significant difference between the thinking of Government members of the committee and that of Deputies Pat Breen and Naughten. I compliment and congratulate the Deputies for bringing this motion forward. I do not think there is an enormous difference between us. We are all interested in keeping the dream of a western railway corridor alive, but we have to assess how it can be approached in a strategic and practical manner. I reject Deputy Pat Breen's suggestion that the amendment is meaningless because it does not do anything. It explicitly calls on the Minister to continue a strategic process which is ongoing.
We should examine the context in which this discussion is taking place. It results from the publication last year of the report of the Booz Allen Hamilton strategic rail review. All members of the committee are familiar with the report, which has been discussed in detail on a number of occasions at this committee and other fora. The report contains the recommendations of consultants, based on their understanding of the priorities. I recall that when the Minister received the report he said it would be examined in the overall context of the roll-out of the national development plan and infrastructural projects throughout the country. The Minister said that he did not consider himself to be handcuffed by its contents.
The report sets out a number of scenarios in respect of the roll-out of rail links and attaches different priorities to the various options. It is fair to say that Booz Allen Hamilton attached a relatively low priority to the Shannon rail link. I did not agree with this decision and I do not agree with it now because I do not think it is in accordance with the contents of the national spatial strategy. I agree with Deputies Pat Breen and Shortall in that respect. We have to ask what happens now and where we go from here. It is clear that the national spatial strategy contains general and broad guidelines about the location of development in clusters and gateways. It makes recommendations about the connection between planning and infrastructure. If I read the strategy correctly, it calls on local authorities, acting individually or in groups, to set out strategic planning guidelines which determine the development of catchment areas for populations and industry in the decades to come, particularly during the term of the national spatial strategy.
All local authorities are preparing strategic planning guidelines. On publication of the strategic rail review, the Minister invited all of the relevant local authorities to come together to formulate a joint strategy for areas of mutual interest. In the west specifically, local authorities can make proposals in respect of how their catchment areas will develop in the context of projected population densities. Once strategic guidelines are in place, it will be a matter for local authorities and others to demonstrate that on the basis of their research and planning the priorities of the Booz Allen Hamilton report were incorrect, though not its ultimate conclusions. I subscribe fully to this view.
In that context, we have tabled the amendment which calls on the Minister to continue discussions among his Department and local authorities. The Minister has made his Department's resources and research available to local authorities. He has asked the authorities to prepare their regional strategic planning guidelines in the context of the information he has provided to them. They must use that information to determine appropriate land use and settlement strategies. It is up to local authorities to identify future infrastructural priorities.
While I do not disagree wholeheartedly with Deputy Pat Breen - we have a great deal in common - my amendment supports the adoption of a more strategic and practical approach to the disappointing conclusions of the Booz Allen Hamilton report in so far as they apply to the mid-west. I commend the Government amendment to the committee.