Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

The manifesto referred to a Dublin-Navan line. It should be provided on the basis of the prioritisation of the reinstatement of the former inland rail route from Navan to Dublin in the 1994 Dublin transportation initiative, the 1999 strategic planning guidelines for the greater Dublin area and the DTO Platform for Change of September 2000. According to the DTO Platform for Change, a new rail spur was to be constructed off the Maynooth line near Clonsilla via Dunboyne to Navan by 2010 in three stages. Planning and design of the Navan line to railway order stage was to have been completed by 2003, construction of the line from Clonsilla to Dunboyne by 2006 and the extension to Navan by 2010.

It is time to apologise for the foot-dragging and face up to the promises that have been made and the series of reports which state this must be done immediately. The Government should do so now rather than wait for the by-election to make a new announcement when it was already on the cards and promised and on which the Government was elected on the basis of delivering it.

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