In my opinion, whichever party is in opposition always seem to have great idea's, but when and if they get voted into government then quite often back track [excuse the pun]. As mentioned earlier, its the same in UK politics or Irish.
Also agree, Railways and most forms of public transport don't make a profit, but are there to provide a service. If the railways where shut down how would that help, with more traffic on the roads, Like Blu Bianco mentioned earlier about the N4/N50 in Dublin.