Rally in support of Navan rail link on Saturday

The Meath on Track Campaign will hold a public rally in Navan this Saturday at 1pm on Kennedy Place just opposite the Navan Shopping Centre.

According to the Cathaoirleach of the Meath on Track Campaign, Deputy Peadar Tóibín the objective is to put maximum pressure on the government to finally build this critical piece of infrastructure.

"I am urging the people of Meath to come out in large numbers to attend this key public rally. I am asking people to motivate and mobilise your family, friends, work colleagues and club members to join us.

“We did it before when our Hospital was under threat. The Navan to Dublin Rail line has been promised by so many governments for so long that many people have given up the fight for this critical piece of infrastructure. However, we cannot give up. Its too important.

"The majority of workers in Meath are forced to leave the county everyday to work. This happens in no other county in Ireland.

“Over 30,000 Meath workers leave Meath to go to work every day. “Meath workers have the longest commute in the country. Yet Navan is the largest town in the country without a Rail Line. Traffic is fast returning to our roads after Covid. “Parents are living in a commuting hell, commuting for two and three hours a day. They return home daily, exhausted to spend a few short hours with their families.

Deputy Toibin pointed out there is a climate emergency.

“Yet the government force thousands of cars to leave the county every day to sit in traffic in Dublin.

"In the last few months, in part due to the pressure brought on the government by our Meath on Track Campaign, the National Transport Agency has commissioned a Navan Rail Line Assessment Study. This is now in its final stages. It will feed into an updated NTA Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area. The Navan to Dublin Rail Line must be included in this Transport Strategy. It will be a disaster for our county and tens of thousands of our commuters if its not".