Welcome for EU’s move on Western Rail plan
A lengthy debate ensued between councillors on whether to support the news that the Western Rail Corridor has been put on the EU’s list of prioritised transport networks.
Sinn Féin’s Chris MacManus put forward a motion to welcome the insertion of the corridor’s inclusion on the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility programme.
The inclusion means that the EU could grant partial funding to reopen the railway line, allowing for a railway route from Sligo to Claremorris, and on to Tuam.
Cllr Declan Bree said the council had ‘every reason’ to welcome the news as it was always the council’s policy to support the Western Railway Corridor.
However, Fianna Fáil’s Paul Taylor said the council needed to be ‘openly supporting a greenway for South Sligo’.
CEO of Sligo County Council, Cíaran Hayes told the meeting that the development plan for Sligo provided for both a railway and a greenway.
Director of Services, Dorothy Clarke explained that an application for a greenway on the railway line from Collooney to Charlestown had been applied for in November 2018.
She added that the agreement of the council was that if funding for the reopening of the railway line was provided for in future, the greenway would then be moved as a result. “The cost of a greenway anywhere else other than on the railway tracks would mean an increase of 4 to 6 times in the cost,”explained Ms Clarke.
Addressing the issue of projected timeframes for the rail project and funding, Cllr Marie Casserly told the meeting that EU funding would be a max of 20% of the cost of a railway and the rest would have to come from the exchequer.
“Currently there are a number of potential rail projects which would have higher priority for funding,” explained Cllr Casserly.
Cllr Jerry Lundy told the meeting that people who were ‘pro-rail aren’t anti-greenway’, but added that the council would be ‘foolish’ not to avail of EU funding for the railway if it was available.