The proposed light rail project for Galway City had greater claim on State funds than Dublin’s metro if the National Spatial Strategy was to be sustained as a Government policy.

This was stated by Marian Harkin MEP when she questioned the justification of a €5 billion investment in additional Dublin light rail networks compared with the €200 million required to provide Galway City with a vital public transport system geared to it’s future development.

“The BMW region of which Galway is a part, has consistently lagged behind the South and East region in terms of infrastructural investment under the National Development Plan and this difficult must be addressed in the current NDP which runs to 2013”, she said.

The Independent MEP said that it was under a Fianna Fail Government that consistent favouritism had been shown to the Eastern and Southern regions of the country and assurance was needed now that a more equitable policy would be implemented in the future.

“As Fianna Fail meets in Galway I call on the Taoiseach to commit to the necessary investment to rail investment in Galway city to position it to be the vibrant centre of a competitive region in the EU for the future”, independent MEP Marian Harkin said.