Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs Éamon Ó Cuív found himself answering a question about a train line once used by his grandfather, Éamon de Valera.
The Green Party's Dan Boyle asked what efforts the Minister had made to secure the railway line between Charleville and Limerick. "Currently, there is a planning application to build a bungalow on the line at Bruff in Co Limerick," he said.
Mr Ó Cuív replied he was familiar with the railway line from Bruff to Charleville. "I have a particular interest in the line because my grandfather used to travel on it in the mornings. Unfortunately, there was no train back in the evenings so he had to walk the six or seven miles home from school. I suggest the deputy raise the issue of the line's ownership with the Minister for Transport. I do not even know if it is owned by Iarnród Éireann."
Mr Boyle said the line was still in existence, although the rails were gone. Planning permission had been given to build on it.
Meanwhile, Mr Boyle suggested that the "much-vaunted initiative on the western rail corridor" actually concerned a western rail hallway.
"It does not come close to being a corridor, which would extend from Cork to Sligo. At present, given the continuation of a radial system in and out of Dublin, one should not be obliged to go from Cork to Limerick via Tipperary or from Cork to Galway via Portarlington."
Mr Ó Cuív said the only circumstances in which the deadline for the project was unlikely to be met was if the current Government was no longer in power. "Work on the western rail corridor will commence next year."
Mr Ó Cuív insisted the commitment in respect of the western rail corridor constituted the biggest reopening of a railway line undertaken in the Republic.
