Mr. John O?Driscoll:

For a start, there had to be a station for Dublin.

With only four stations available, there was a 25% chance that it was going to be Stepaside. Three of the four were clustered close together, including Kill of the Grange, Dalkey and Stepaside. Considering the population around those three stations, it is clear to me that Stepaside was the one. Further, one station had to be bigger than the other chosen. I was aware and had discussions with people who served previously in that area. I knew there had been discussions about the viability of Dalkey in advance of the decision to close it. Considering all the information, Stepaside came at the top of those three. Stepaside was the biggest of the four stations and the criteria given were that the next had to be a smaller station. I would not advise that the next station, being smaller, would be one of the other two in close proximity, which left no option other than Rush, on the proviso that there did not necessarily have to be a second station in Dublin based on the criteria. It was just that if there was a second station, it had to be smaller. Rush had the population advantage where criteria to justify it being open were concerned.