MEPs show their support for Killucan train station

European Parliament members Marian Harkin and Jim Higgins came to their Hilamar Hotel in Kinnegad on Thursday night last, to offer their support and advice to locals campaigning to have the train station at Killucan re-opened.Denis Leonard, representing the Killucan-Kinnegad Transport Lobby Group, brought the MEPs up to speed by summarising a campaign briefing presented to the public at a meeting in February.The MEPs had been unable to attend the initial meeting, due to their flights being affected by heavy snowfall on the Continent.Both Ms. Harkin (Independent) and Mr. Higgins (Fine Gael) will seek votes from the Westmeath electorate during the June 2009 European elections; meanwhile, apologies were received from Fianna Fáil MEP, Seán Ó Neachtain, and a number of other public representatives, while Fine Gael TD James Bannon and FF local election candidate John Shaw turned out to show their support for the campaign.Ms. Harkin told those present that persistence was the key to achieving the re-opening of Killucan Station.'Lobby your politicians, because this is something worth following,' she remarked, adding that with all the climate change era talk about 'carbon credits', putting Killucan Station back into commission might be a good place to spend some of them.Citing other possible sources of funding, Ms. Harkin said that it was likely that the Government"s plans for the Metro North system in Dublin - a key feature of the national transport investment framework, Transport 21 - will 'fall out or be put on the back burner', freeing up funds for more pressing initiatives like Killucan Station.'We have a Green Party in Government, and pressure should be put on the Green ministers,' she said, pointing out the environmental importance of improved rail networks.Mr. Higgins said that Transport 21 featured 'an awful lot of elaborate and expensive projects that don"t make sense', and he asked all present to watch the forthcoming emergency Budget for 'major cuts on the capital side'.'There"s more of a furore among people when they are hit with extra taxes, than when capital projects are cut,' he said.Deputy James Bannon said that he had been kept informed about the Killucan Station campaign by Kinnegad"s Cllr. Pat McLoughlin. 'People power will get the station opened,' the Fine Gael man said. 'At the end of the day it"s a political decision, and we"re disappointed that more consideration hasn"t been given to rail.'He said that hundreds of people were ready and willing to use the station, and that with expected costs of between €2 million and €2.5 million, the station would pay for itself.Bob Morrison of the Mullingar Arts and Railway Group agreed with Deputy Bannon, saying that the re-opening of the station is 'a self-fulfilling prophecy, like a motorway'.'People in this campaign can"t do much more. If Irish Rail want to get people on the railways, you have to open stations like this and create the facility,' he said.Denis Leonard, one of the leading voices in the campaign, said that it was important that people in the area use trains in order to get an understanding of how important and efficient the railway service is.'We have money going out on projects that"s not being recounted,' said Mr. Leonard, who is a Labour Party local election candidate. 'You could open thirty Killucan Stations for the money of one Metro North.'The consensus at the meeting was that after nearly two decades of unprecedented development of roadways - undoubtedly tied to the Celtic Tiger and the construction industry - it is high time that investment be made in a solid future for railways.While the Killucan Station campaign has managed to recruit the support of local businesses, politicians and community groups, it remains clear that the final decision rests at Cabinet level, and likely with Transport Minister, Noel Dempsey.The group awaits a pending review of Transport 21, but will continue to push for an earlier and favourable decision.