The Labour Party has warned that if Iarnród Éireann goes ahead with plans to cut the volume of freight carried on the rail system by 46 per cent the number of deaths on the roads will increase dramatically.
According to the party's spokesperson on Public Enterprise Mr Emmet Stagg, the proposed cuts of around 1.25 million tonnes of freight from the rail system will mean tens of thousands of additional lorry journeys through small towns and villages around the country.
"Of the twenty cyclists killed in Dublin over the past six years, fifteen died as a result of collisions with heavy goods vehicles," he said.
"If the proposed transfer of freight from rail to road goes ahead, yet more will die."
A recently published EU white paper emphasised the need to transfer more freight on to environmentally friendly forms of transport such as rail.
"This proposed move would also have significant implications for our commitments under the Kyoto Agreement, he said.
"According to Irish Rail’s own website, ‘extensive research in Ireland and other EU states shows that freight trains consume about four time less energy per tonne-kilometre than road trucks.
"Irish Rail is being forced to make this decision as a result of demands from Minister Mary O’ Rourke that it should be meet the Department’s narrow criteria for ‘profitability’".