Rail routes hold key to opening up west

AN ambitious plan to reopen rail lines from Shannon to Sligo throughout the west of Ireland is a major plank in a plan to revitalise rural Ireland.

According to Rural Development Minister Eamon Ó Cuív, the rail network, along with further government decentralisation, are essential to stop the continuing flight of people from the countryside.

Mr Ó Cuív, who was attending a major EU conference in Salzburg to help draw up guidelines for the next rural development programme, said the government was already committed to moving up to 10,000 civil servants from Dublin and he believed he had support to reopen old rail links throughout the west.