Eamon Ryan (Dublin South, Green Party)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for his courtesy and I will not seek to have his decision taken as a precedent. The Minister appears to have indicated recently that in addition to the metro option, he is considering an alternative option by Iarnród Éireann that it would use existing railway lines to develop a link to Dublin Airport from the DART line probably somewhere north of Maynooth. Does he agree that the real potential benefit from the metro proposal is in planning as it would concentrate development along new lines and service institutions and areas such as DCU, the Mater Hospital, Ballymun and Swords? Would it not be preferable to concentrate planning along a new line, rather than developing the existing DART railway line? Will he indicate whether his Department favours the metro proposal or the alternative Iarnród Éireann proposal? The latter would be a third rate solution that would not stand the test of time, which is test the Minister indicated would be used to decide which option we should take.

Will the Minister indicate the reason neither private nor public funding for a metro has not been included in his Department's five-year capital programme? The small amount of private funding included in the programme could not possibly fund the construction of a metro over a five-year period and nor would the small capital programme allocated for public transport cover its costs? Why does the capital programme not include funding for a metro?

In the past year and a half, the Minister has stated on a number of occasions that proposals on a metro would be brought to Cabinet for decision within weeks. I believe I have received about ten replies in which the Minister has made such a promise. Does he still believe that to be the case?

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