Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I am astonished by this admission that the board of CIE could make a statement to the effect that the interconnector will only be completed by 2018. Why was the entire Fianna Fáil party in Dublin not lined up, both Deputies and councillors, as was seen at the recent opening of Clongriffin DART station? Although the Minister seemed to know all about that event, he was not aware of the further postponement of what he has acknowledged to be the most important project in public transport to connect finally the railways and DART services across the east Leinster region. This is an astonishing admission and is deplorable. How can this possibly work? The Minister is aware that in a couple of months' time, the metro north project will finally move towards its planning railway order and construction will begin on a number of what it calls "boxes" throughout the city. As the interconnector is supposed to be integrated with that project, how can these two projects not move ahead together?

See this speech in context