Ryan reaffirms Navan rail line commitment

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan gave a commitment in the Dail on Thursday to build the railway line to Navan.

“Should we and will we build the Navan rail line? Yes we will,” he said in response to a question by Deputy Peadar Tóibín.

However, the Minister said they would also have to invest in rail in Cork, Galway and Limerick.

“We have to invest in rural transport and build a metro in Dublin. There is a queue.”

The Minister told Deputy Tóibín that the railway line to Navan made strategic sense and the National Transport Authority had confirmed that.

“We now have to do cost estimations.

“There is a queue and planning in this country takes an inordinate amount of time, but there is no lack of commitment to the project.”

Deputy Tóibín said it was good news that the Minister for Transport committed for the first time to build the Navan to Dublin Railway.

“We in the Meath on Track Campaign will now hold the government to their word,” he said.

Deputy Tóibín told the Minister of the “commuter hell experienced by people living in Meath trying to get to work in Dublin.

“There is the cost of living crisis with the increase in the price of fuels and there is a global warming crisis.

“A rail line from Navan to Dublin fixes these issues,” he said.

“The majority of workers in Meath this morning left the county to go to work. This doesn't happen in any other county.

“Meath people commute further than any other county.

“ I know what this is doing to people. “People are spending three hours commuting. They don't see their families during the week.

“People bought their houses in Meath 20 years ago on the premise that they would have a rail line in 2010, we were then promised 2015. My worry is that unless there is a solid gold commitment made by you as minister it will remain in the sphere of feasibility studies forever.”

Deputy Tóibín said we have had feasibility studies, analysis and e4views “coming our ears in Co Meath.”

“What is lacking is political will. I am confident that if it happens, it will happen under your stewardship,” he told Minister Ryan and asked him to give a commitment that it would be built.

On a visit to Navan in November, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government was fully committed to the extension of the rail line from Dunboyne to Navan and said the inclusion of the measure in the NTA Draft Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) was a statement of that intent.

The National Transport Authority report published in November confirmed the rail link would be delivered, but with a timeline suggesting it would be completed between 2031 and 2042.

The NTA noted that Navan had experienced rapid population growth over the last two decades.

“Having regard to the commuting patterns from this area and analysis work undertaken for rail provision along this corridor, it is proposed to extend the rail system from the M3 Parkway terminus station (just west of Dunboyne) to Navan town, serving Dunshaughlin and Kilmessan along its route,” the document stated.