The Government should stop trying to fool the people of the West and tell them bluntly that their promise to reopen a western rail corridor, as a driver of economic growth, will not be viable for the foreseeable future. In spite of potential political repercussions, it would be the decent and honourable thing to do. Rather than persevere with this project, funding should be switched to the inadequate road network and the urgent development of a north/south dual carriageway.
Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats promised to re-open a western rail corridor linking Sligo, Galway and Limerick in their election manifestoes of 2002. Since then, nothing has been done. But the Government has kept its commitment alive - following intense local pressure - through the establishment of two strategic rail reviews. The first exercise, by professional consultants in 2003, omitted the project from a 20-year priority rail investment plan on the grounds that the benefits would not justify the cost. In the following year a new study, involving local interests, was undertaken. It also found the idea of a western rail corridor to be impractical at this time, but recommended the phased development of commuter services in the Limerick/Galway region and the reopening of the rail link to Claremorris. The link to Sligo was dropped. Capital costs for the revised scheme, at €168 million, were significantly lower than those estimated in the earlier study.
Promises to drain the Shannon have been significant vote-getters in the past. But they involved a cruel deception of tens of thousands of small farmers who were struggling to make a living. And when those undertakings could not be kept, the ensuing public despair was all the greater. People lost confidence in politics and in politicians. The same negative reaction could re-emerge in the west because of political fudge, unrealistic promises and a failure to invest in effective regional development.
A full-scale western rail corridor is not absolutely necessary for economic development. But investment in public transport, in roads, in education, in broadband and in high voltage electricity for industry is desperately needed.
The rail corridor has been a smoke-and-mirrors exercise, designed to distract public attention from the larger economic picture and to retain credibility as a general election approaches. The Government parties made promises they could not keep in 2002. That happens. Spending €200 million on a section of track in a depopulated and under-developed area could not be justified. People would understand that. After all, it is their money. But they deserve to be told.