Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like the Minister and, I suspect, every person in this House, I think MetroLink is a good idea. The city requires such an underground service. In fact, the sooner we have it the better because there is a difficulty for people travelling from the outskirts of the city into the centre quickly. We have seen from another transport proposal, BusConnects, that the intention is to try to get people from the outskirts into the city promptly. However, the BusConnects project does not really take into account the fact that there are also people along the route into the centre of the city, in the urban villages, who have to be served.

The Minister has indicated that it is for the NTA to determine this matter which is still out for public consultation. However, it is astonishing that so little coverage has been given to the proposal by a statutory body to demolish a group of 70 homes. I commend Olivia Kelly of The Irish Timesfor covering it today. At a time when there is a severe housing crisis in the city, it is simply not acceptable for proposals such as this to be made, particularly when they are not necessary. There are many other routes and locations available for the construction of the underground station at Tara Street.

It is also obviously a political decision. Previously we saw the benefit of a lot of campaigning in the case of Na Fianna GAA Club in the constituency of the Minister for Finance. As a result of that campaigning, changes were made and it was indicated that the club would not be inconvenienced in the way that had been proposed. I commend and congratulate Na Fianna on its success, but we need to recognise that the Government has a role to play in developing important infrastructural projects.

We cannot simply have a situation where the Government states there is a statutory body in place which is performing a public function and the Government washes its hands of it. The Government funds these projects and should have a say in respect of them. Will the Minister recognise the concern of the people living in these 70 homes at the proposal that their houses will be knocked down?

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