Sir, – Your correspondent David Traynor said that the money from Apple should be used to build a high-speed rail connection from Belfast via Dublin to Cork – an admirable idea but I fear he will be well out in the cost (March 17th). He thinks the €14 billion will complete the work, but that’s where I feel the scheme proposed falls down. Here in the UK the original HS2 was priced at £37.5 billion from London to both Manchester and Leeds. It is now reckoned that to Birmingham alone it will cost between £49 billion and £67 billion for a distance of 225km – half the length of his proposed scheme. He should return to the drawing board – particularly about the cost – and also take in the environmental assessments and their added costs.

Source: The Irish Times March 19, 2026 15:00 UTC