Greens call on NTA to prioritise actioning rail line to Navan

The Meath East branch of the Green Party has called on the National Transport Authority to prioritise actioning the extension of the Navan Rail Line in the first 10-year phase of its recently published draft Transport Strategy.

The strategy currently aims to deliver the project between 2031 and 2040, meaning that commuters in Meath may have to wait two decades before this crucial piece of infrastructure is implemented.

Adrian Smith, chairperson of the party branch stated: "Although the inclusion of the rail line extension in the NTA’s transport strategy is indeed welcome, the government and Minister Ryan need to be aware that this project has been talked about since 1998 and that the patience of commuters in Meath is wearing thin.

Sinn Féin’s spokesperson on Transport, Darren O’Rourke, has said the government’s current public and active transport plans in Meath do not reflect the radical change required to meet the 51 per cent emissions reduction targets by 2030.

The Meath East TD said: "The Government talks a lot about climate change and the need to tackle it - but when it comes to Navan Rail (at least 10 years away), expanding the public bus network (no expansion and cutbacks on some college routes) and reducing fares (exorbitant prices in Meath compared to other areas) - they do nothing. It's incredibly frustrating.

"I’m struggling to see how the government’s current transport plans will deliver the transformational change needed to reduce the sector’s emissions by 42 to 50 per cent as per the Climate Action Plan. Put bluntly, the scale, ambition and pace of change simply isn’t there to achieve this goal."