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

If it is the case that the proposal to dig up the Luas green line has been abandoned, I welcome that. It was a crazy proposal considering that hundreds of millions of euro were spent on constructing a very effective and popular Luas line. I ask the Minister to bring clarity to the matter because such clarity does not exist. We have read reports in newspapers. Does the Minister know whether the proposal has been abandoned?

The Minister also needs to recognise that a metro on the southside should not be abandoned. As Deputy Lahart and I have repeatedly argued, Dublin is crying out for a metro service to places in the south west of the city such as Terenure, Templeogue, Firhouse and Rathfarnham, which are areas outside my constituency. It is necessary to have a proper effective metro system in the city.

The Minister will also be aware that there is a proposal in respect of BusConnects. Some of the proposals are useful. We need to have faster bus traffic into the city and we need cycle lanes, but there is also a proposal that would significantly impact people living on Kimmage Road Lower, Rathfarnham Road, Terenure Road East and Rathgar Road. In respect of the last three of those roads, it is proposed that the NTA compulsorily acquire up to 6 m from the front gardens of houses in the area. This would cost a fortune is impractical and is vehemently opposed by people in the area.

We need sensible joined-up thinking in respect of transport proposals for the city. I ask the Minister to recommend to the NTA that it keep the drilling machine to be used for the metro project from the airport into the city centre and direct it south-west to those parts of the city that are crying out for public rail infrastructure. As Deputy Rock said, that would be a great legacy for the Minister to leave. However, he needs to identify what the political objectives are. If he does so, he would secure support of local communities. There is an opportunity to link up the metro system and the BusConnects system and solve a problem by coming up with a single integrated plan.

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