Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

We are still waiting on the review, but signals have been given out to the effect that metro west will not go ahead. There is merit in the idea that at least one of these projects should not be scrapped. The one that would deliver the most would be metro north. More than €200 million has been spent on these projects, some €150 million of that on metro north. This money was spent on consultants, architects, residents meetings, etc. The Minister has attended meetings, but I have attended more meetings about metro north than anyone.

I hope we do not go down the road of scrapping everything. It has been hinted that the DART link-up would be a better, more deliverable and less expensive project, but metro north would deliver the most jobs, have the most impact across the city and link the north and south sides with the airport, Ikea, Ballymun, DCU and new areas with large populations, such as Swords. Metro north would take traffic off the roads and create jobs along ancillary routes. We are in economically difficult times, but we must continue to create jobs via capital projects like metro north.

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