Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 4 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport

Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Region: Discussion

Photo of Emer CurrieEmer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I know; I will be quick. I refer to the DART+ West consultation process for Ashtown. As part of public consultation 2, 6,340 out of 8,000 submissions related to Ashtown Stables because the proposals in public consultation 2 would have devastated Ashtown Stables. There has been another consultation and the document for it states: "This revised preferred option largely avoids Ashtown Stables, which was identified as an important local community amenity". On page 60 the public consultation report states:

By relocating the roadway to the west of the mill much of the impact on the stables is removed. There will be some impact at the southern extremity of the site ...

On the indicative drawings it looked acceptable and we were saying it was a victory for community consultation but the drawings for Ashtown Stables arrived fewer than 24 hours before the end of the consultation. Ashtown Stables says that those drawings render the business unviable, that there is a significant contradiction, that there are no measurements, that it impacts Mill Lane and Ashtown Road and that it conflates permanent and temporary land takes. This is a real worry for us. The community came together to support this family business and now it tells us when the consultation is finished that the solutions we thought we had found were not there. The owners of Ashtown Stables are incredibly upset about this. Is this how Irish Rail treats family businesses? Are the witnesses aware of this? What consultation is happening with this family business?

My last question is on a direct bus to Dublin Airport from Dublin 15. We have seen the increase in parking at the airport and that there could be a toll introduced for set-down charges there. It will be 2024 by the time BusConnects will have a link from Dublin 15 to the airport. Will we prioritise airport connections in public transport?

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