Pringle: New transport vision needed, including rail for Donegal and the north-west

By Thomas Pringle
Updated: 23rd November 2022

Independent TD for Donegal, Thomas Pringle, said Government needs to look at providing rail service to Donegal and the north-west in order to reduce demand for car travel.

Addressing the Dáil today, Deputy Pringle said: “Galway needs to be the test case for the carrying out of a model of transport that is different and where alternatives to the car are modelled and looked at.”

The deputy spoke in support of a motion brought forward by Catherine Connolly, TD, and the Independent Group that calls on Government to “develop a transformative new vision that will align with Ireland’s transport emissions reduction targets, provide sustainable, accessible public transport and urgently reduce car dependency”.

Deputy Pringle cited the OECD report, “Redesigning Ireland’s Transport for Net Zero”, which stated that alternative futures for car ownership and car occupancy are absent from Ireland’s standard transport modelling.

The deputy said: “Is that what we are faced with, a complete lack of vision and a failure to see anything else other than a totally car-dependent culture?”

He said the report states that “growing car use in Ireland is largely determined by car-dependant transport and decarbonising the system via private vehicle improvements is unlikely to lead to substantially different patterns of behaviour, rapid emissions improvements and large well-being improvements.

“So what all of that is saying is that we are currently about tweaking car use and not really making the substantive change that is required,” he said.

Deputy Pringle said: “We need to have change for all of Ireland, and that means in the north-west and Donegal in particular as well.

“We covered this in a recent PMB as well in terms of public transport requirements for the rural areas. We also should be looking at the provision of rail for the north-west and Donegal in order to move people away from ongoing car development.”

The deputy said the ‘West on Track’ and ‘Into the West’ campaigns show this is possible. ‘Into the West’ seek to restore the north-west rail corridor to bring a rail connection to Dungannon, Omagh, Strabane, Lifford and Letterkenny.

Deputy Pringle said: “Combine that with the ‘West on Track’, and a rail link for Ballyshannon, Donegal town and Ballybofey into Letterkenny could be provided as well. Imagine if someone had to head to Dublin from Gweedore, Killybegs or Fanad and all they had to do was get a bus to Letterkenny or Donegal town and then a train to Dublin and be there in as quick time as driving.

“It shouldn’t be something that is unachievable and it can be doable if we decide that we want to do it,” he said.

Deputy Pringle said: “The Climate Action Plan says that in order to achieve our national climate objective, planning policy must work to ‘reduce demand for travel by car, travel distances and journey times’. It doesn’t say that in order to achieve the action plan that we should not travel at all but should travel smarter. That means by rail, as I see it.”

The deputy said: “I believe that if we don’t aim high, we can never achieve. By adopting and implementing this motion this government will be able to start thinking bigger and aiming higher and maybe achieving better.”