00:00Today I met with the representatives of the North West City Region, representatives from Donegal, Derry and Strabane.
00:10I was meeting with them today about the All-Ireland Rail Review.
00:13And I think it's important to say that this review is an All-Ireland one and we have to work together to make sure we deliver it.
00:20And I had a very good, positive meeting with the representatives and their officials.
00:24And I look forward to engaging with them on an ongoing basis.
00:27Investment in rail infrastructure in the North West is absolutely crucial if we're to be any way serious about balanced regional development.
00:36And Donegal is one of the few counties in the island of Ireland that doesn't have a rail network and that is simply unacceptable.
00:42The Rail Review has proposed linking Derry and Letterkenny and that is crucial obviously in terms of the North West City Region and the connectivity in relation to Belfast and the spur on to Dublin.
00:53It would be my ambition and I would love to see a direct line to the fourth largest city on the island of Ireland, which is Derry, connected with our capital city Dublin.
01:04It is absolutely appalling and it shows the effects of partition that we simply do not in this day and age still have a connection between those two cities.
01:14But what we do need now and what we deserve is a fully costed commitment from government looking at that Letterkenny to Derry line, looking at the other potentials that are there, looking at how we deliver this project, the time frame that is there and making sure that Donegal is no longer a forgotten county.
01:32It is not acceptable anymore, particularly when we talk about all the challenges about regional development, but also in terms of climate change that Donegal is simply forgotten in terms of rail.
01:41It cannot go on anymore, so I want to see commitments from government to push this forward. Thank you.
