Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

The former Minister with responsibility for public transport, Senator O'Rourke, promised us a metro seven years ago. She abandoned a Luas line for the northside in favour of an all-singing, all-dancing metro, saying we would all be riding on it within seven years. We have now lost seven years of planning, while costs have escalated and traffic has got worse. The current Minister is telling us that it is all on the table. The Government went to the electorate with A Platform for Change, which was a lovely map of everything that was going to be built in Dublin. We still have no evidence that any of it is anything other than a figment of the imagination. The Taoiseach stated two weeks ago that the metro was not going to happen as it was too costly. What has happened in the last couple of weeks that the Minister's trusty lieutenant was able to announce yesterday that the metro was going to go ahead? Will it happen? Has a decision been made? If a metro is not to be developed, then what will be developed? We have lost seven years of planning. We have already spent €8 million on establishing the feasibility of a metro. Is it feasible? The Taoiseach stated that it was not. Could we spend the same money building five Luas lines? When will we get a decision? We have had decisions in the past. Do they mean anything when this Minister makes them? Can he give us a timeframe for when this will be built if the decision is to be made?

See this speech in context