North Tipperary Line

[niallf]

First time poster here with a hypothetical question.

In an Ireland where there was a few hundred million euro to play around with for railway infrastructure investment could an argument be made for a direct line from south of Portlaoise to connect to the North Tipperary line? If the track on the line from that point to Limerick was of good enough quality would it be feasible for this to then be the main intercity line between Dublin and Limerick?

I understand of course the reasons for bundling Limerick intercity onto the Cork services with changes at Limerick Junction but I'm under the impression that the distance would be shorter Dublin to Limerick via the North Tipperary line in my hypothetical situation and so with the right level of investment there could be competitive journey times and the opportunity to service the intermediate stations.

Thanks