Councillor lashes colleagues over rural rail link freight proposal

Councillors were told they should be ashamed of themselves for being so mis-informed on the value of developing a rural rail link when the business just wasn’t there to sustain it.

Councillor Shaun Cunniffe poured cold water on his colleagues’ calls for rail links between rural towns for freight purposes, at this week’s Council meeting.

Cllr Jimmy McClearn, speaking in favour of a call to support the development of Galway Docks, said it would strengthen the argument for a better railway system and have a huge implication on the movement of goods in the region.

Director of the North Western Regional Assembly, David Minton has called on councillors to support the upgrading of Galway Docks to a Tier 2 harbour which would make it a port of national significance.

Cllrs McClearn and Martina Kinnane who represent the Council on the Assembly and Frank Kearney immediately agreed to support the call saying it had potential to benefit the whole region.

But Cllr Cunniffe stated that there was only one freight company currently using trains and that basically the freight business wasn’t there and that in fact it was the most capital intensive way of transporting goods.

“It’s so sad to hear councillors being so mis-informed. The West on Track talks about getting more trains but you don’t talk about lack of money or the population to sustain the network. Ye should be ashamed of yourselves,” he said.

But Connemara councillor, Seosamh Ó Cualáin said that if there was a proper rail system in the west they mightn’t have experienced the road traffic chaos they had that very morning.

Indeed, he continued, he had reservations about the Galway Docks and the depth of it saying that Ros a Mhil port should be developed instead.

Cllr Tom Healy said it would be great to see both ports developed.

Cllr Jim Cuddy said that there weren’t that many councillors at a presentation given by the Harbour Board over a year ago.

“We should be supportive of developing the harbour but Ros a Mhil should certainly be developed as a deep sea fishing port and Galway developed for tourism and commercial purposes,” he said.

But this was “pie in the sky” according to Cllr Noel Thomas who said there wasn’t the infrastructure, such as roads to Ros a Mhil, and he couldn’t see it being developed in his time.

Cllr Kearney said he was disappointed at the negativity in the chamber as he was sure the development of Galway Harbour would make a difference to the whole region.

Cllr McClearn said he wasn’t ruling out the development of Ros a Mhil but he was making no apology for supporting a wider railway system that would link Cork to Letterkenny.

Cllr Kinnane said she too was supporting the Galway Docks project and the Assembly and she had submitted for a commuter train from Athenry to the city with two hubs with feeder buses to sites like Parkmore to take cars off the roads.

At the end of the discussion councillors agreed to support the development of Galway Docks.