Cork councillors hope Eamon Ryan's departure 'might benefit us' as they renew bid for rail link
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Cork County Council is to lodge a submission to the review of the Cork Metropolitan Transport Area Strategy (CMATS) in an attempt to get plans for a rail link between Midleton and Youghal back on track.
While a senior Irish Rail official has said it’s still feasible to build tracks alongside what is now a greenway connecting the two towns, the project was not originally included in the 2020 transport plan.
However, outgoing Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan’s private secretary, Amanda Corley, has written on his behalf to the East Cork Municipal District Council members, pointing out that they can lodge a submission when the CMATS plan comes up for review in 2026.
She apologised for the delay in responding to councillors’ requests for an update on the potential project.
Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley, who chairs the municipal council, said “on the plus side we will have a new minister shortly". That was a reference to Mr Ryan’s unpopularity amongst councillors in Cork.
He previously gained their ire after axing money for the upgrade of the N25 between Carrigtwohill and progressing the Mallow Northern Relief Road.
It culminated in councillors emphatically voting against a motion tabled some month ago in County Hall by Fianna Fail councillor Gillian Coughlan to wish Mr Ryan well when he announced he wasn’t seeking re-election.
“Maybe the new minister (for transport) will look more favourably on us,” Ms Linehan-Foley said.
She added further weight to their argument for the re-opening of the railway line is mounting as an online petition for this was nearly at 6,000 signatures and growing daily.
Fine Gael councillor Rory Cocking said: “It’s important to keep our shoulders to the wheel of this one.” He also said that Mr Ryan’s departure from the transport ministry “might benefit us".
Fianna Fáil councillor Anne Marie Ahern said that the Cork East constituency now has three of its four TDs from the eastern side — Social Democrats Liam Quaide (Midleton), Fianna Fáil’s James O’Connor (Killeagh) and Sinn Fein’s Pat Buckley (Midleton) — who should be called upon to pressure the government for the re-opening of the connection.
Mr Quaide has in particular been extremely vocal about re-opening the rail line. He has repeatedly highlighted congestion being encountered by car commuters coming from East Cork into the city with constant hold-ups at peak times in Killeagh, Castlemartyr, and at the Jack Lynch Tunnel.
Mr Quaide is on record as saying the tunnel junction cannot undergo any further improvements and that public transport solutions are the only way to address the current situation.
Fianna Fáil councillor Patrick Mulcahy maintained it is good that the county council can make a submission to the CMATS review, but he cautioned that the rail link between Midleton and Youghal will be seriously expensive as currently it is estimated by experts that it will cost €30m per kilometre to lay down the tracks.
Ms Linehan-Foley said she appreciated the re-opening of the line will be costly and she will “probably be pushing up daisies” before it becomes a reality.
However, she said that the council must do everything it can to ensure that future generations benefit from such a project and that’s why it must make a serious submission to the CMATS review when the opportunity arises.