Eamon Ryan: Remote working has potential to lift rural Ireland
Eamon Ryan said that the likes of a high-speed railway link between Cork, Dublin, and Belfast should not come before regional rail development.
Investment in transport within regional cities and towns should be prioritised over motorways and high-speed railways linking them, according to Eamon Ryan, the transport minister.
“Remote working is full of real potential for us to revitalise rural Ireland, develop hubs and towns across the country, and really transform how the country works for the better," Mr Ryan said.
"We should very quickly, urgently, in the next two to three years, make sure that it just doesn't go back to every distributor road going into the city being full of traffic.
“So we need to do the bypasses, do the town centre first projects, and give that the greatest priority because we are at a critical moment in time,” he added.
Speaking before an Oireachtas committee on transport and communications, Mr Ryan said this would be in line with the department’s new framework for considering future investment, the National Investment Framework for Transport in Ireland (NIFTI).
NIFTI will ensure that investment in the transport sector is underpinned by strategic aims, prioritising decarbonisation, sustainable mobility, and enhanced regional and rural accessibility.
Mr Ryan said NIFTI will help to reach different obligations, including environmental ones, as he said the transport sector would be challenged to meet climate targets.
“NIFTI helps us, it gives guidance. It says we should be promoting active travel first if we can, it says that we should be using existing assets and not necessarily always building new, because that's very expensive and takes time. Therefore I think it's it's a useful part of the overall jigsaw,” he added.
Mr Ryan said it was “critical” to get people back living in centres of towns and cities, by investing in transport.
"People are within walking distance of schools, churches, pubs, community centres, football pitches so that you can move away from a car-based system.
"We as a State don't have to provide ever outwards, which would be hugely expensive, and you get the benefit of a really strong community life,” he said.
He said that the likes of a high-speed railway link between Cork, Dublin, and Belfast should not come before regional rail development.
“When it comes to investment in rail infrastructure in my mind, the first priority is metropolitan rail in Cork, Limerick, Waterford, and Galway … achievable, deliverable, immediate priorities.
"I’m not saying no to high speed, 300km an hour, several billion euro, Dublin to Cork … but we have to start delivering better, balanced, regional development,” he said.
Speaking about the N/M20 Cork to Limerick Project, the minister said that NIFTI is not the decision gate for the project, but it will have to inform it.
“NIFTI would say we have to look at the rail option as well as the motorway option … or upgrading the existing road rather than building new roads … and that you do support active travel,” he said.
“I think we should be prioritising bypassing the likes of Charleville and Buttevant. That doesn't preclude the upgrade of the road, but do I believe a full motorway makes sense this instance? I don't,” he added.
