Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

An article that was published in a local newspaper and included in the agenda for this afternoon's meeting quoted an American engineer and tunneller as saying it should take a year, or possibly two years, to complete the tunnelling part of the project, based on an average daily rate for cutting a tunnel of between 100 ft and 150 ft. He said that in normal circumstances it should be completed in three years. Na Fianna has been told that it will have no facilities for six or seven years. It seems TII is proposing to cut between 5 ft and 6 ft of tunnel per day over a period of six to seven years. Will the officials from TII explain how it could take six or seven years to cut the tunnel for the metro, bearing in mind the average daily cutting rate to which I have referred?

I would like to refer to something else that was mentioned in the article in question. The delegates can dispute these quotes if they wish. They reflect the concerns that have been raised in the presentations. According to the article, an engineer from the NTA or TII has said the proposal to dump on Na Fianna's ground was "not the best" plan. The same engineer described the plan as "crazy". We know the history of projects that have gone AWOL, with massive overspends, huge delays and all of the disasters involved. The serious concerns that have been expressed are understandable in that context. The engineer quoted in the article has said there is no need for a building depot and suggested the site earmarked for metro stops could be used to store kit and dirt and all that sort of thing. He said there was no need to use Na Fianna's ground at all. I wonder whether it was chosen by the consultants for pure convenience without giving due consideration to everyone who would be affected. Will the delegates from the NTA confirm that it was done for reasons of pure convenience? Did nobody in the NTA or TII think to question it, or just to look at it, before bulldozing ahead and announcing it?

A previous speaker asked about the alternatives being considered. I want to ask about something relevant that struck me as I was listening to the presentations made. People have huge concerns. It comes back to the six or seven-year timeframe for tunnelling for the metro. Why did it take so long to lay the tracks for the Luas cross-city line? Was the NTA happy with the Luas cross-city project? If the answer to that question is yes, I despair for the MetroLink project. Most people would do likewise. One will never learn if one is not prepared to honestly accept and openly acknowledge that one has made mistakes. I am interested in hearing the NTA officials' response to that question.

I will conclude by asking about the tendering process for the overall project. How exactly will it work? Will it be a full PPP or funded by the State? I ask these questions in the light of the history of overspends, gross delays and general chaos in PPP projects. When the State takes on these mass infrastructural projects, they tend to result in the overspend of hundreds of millions of euro.