Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy’s written and oral question seem to be slightly different but I will try to address them both through my supplementary replies. I do not mean they are very different but there is certainly a lot more in the Deputy's oral question than in his written one. I will address both.

The National Transport Authority, NTA, has statutory responsibility for the implementation and development of public transport infrastructure projects in the greater Dublin area, including metro north and heavy rail projects. With regard to the DART underground project, which is specifically mentioned in the Deputy's question, the business case for the project was reviewed in 2015 and the NTA recommended that the tunnel element be redesigned to provide a lower cost technical solution while retaining the required rail connectivity. The Government accepted the NTA's recommendation and announced in September 2015 that the tunnel element would not proceed as originally designed but would be redesigned. DART underground remains a key element of integrated transport for the greater Dublin area and the implementation of the overall DART expansion programme, including the redesigned tunnel, is included in the NTA's transport strategy for the greater Dublin area for the period 2016 to 2035. Funding for redesign and planning of the project is available under the Government's capital plan, Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021. Funding is also provided under the capital plan for planning, design and construction of the new metro north. The funding in the initial years of the capital plan allows for planning and design work on the project, with construction expected to commence in 2021 with a view to delivering the project by 2026 or 2027.

The decision to proceed with new metro north followed consideration of the Fingal-north Dublin transport study and the NTA's recommendations on the study, which identified the light rail link as the optimum long-term public transport solution on the Swords-airport-city centre corridor.

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