Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

There is doubt over whether the Government has made up its mind on what we will do with the south part of the MetroLink project. As we are speaking, the National Transport Authority has outlined its latest paper on the next level of design options. I have had a chance to read it online and we look forward to attending its session this afternoon with Members of Parliament to ask questions. I hope we can agree, as we have agreed on the previous occasion, to bring this before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport for a really detailed debate. We all know the history of this with 20 years of planning the metro. It was always planned to be extended to the Luas green line. Real concerns arise that in a driverless segregated system, the section from Ranelagh to Dundrum, would have the serious consequences of loss of pedestrian, cycling and local accessibility. We had expected some sort of response to that today to see what would be technically possible.

The response seems to be to put it off for 20 years. We will not proceed now. We will run the tunnel machine beyond Charlemont to just south of Ranelagh and use it as a shunting yard while we wait 20 years before upgrading it. That is not the right approach to take. We need to be ambitious in public transport development. What the Taoiseach said earlier about the climate is very true. We need to do many things and so much more. In transport alone, even with the MetroLink and the BusConnects project in Dublin, the National Transport Authority expects a 30% increase in emissions when what we need a 30% decrease by 2030.

The Government needs to be open to looking at all options, including extending the Luas green line now if that is the best transport solution. We should look at other solutions. One of people's main concerns is that the lack of upgrade to the Luas green line will see people from Sandyford, Cherrywood and beyond, where large developments are occurring, not having a sufficient capacity to get on the line.

That is a real issue. One option we could choose to solve that problem would be that rather than stopping the tunnelling machine in Ranelagh, it could continue on to UCD and from there to Sandyford, thus creating a new line that has heightened demands - UCD is a huge centre and there are others along that route – thereby solving that problem. The other might be to run it to the south west to Terenure and Rathfarnham but, critically, we are in a consultation process where we should not shut out the options. The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport said last month: "I won't countenance any project which comes up with a proposal which inconveniences commuters" to the extent of a four-year closure, which he stated was possible. He said: "it won't be happening". Is that the last word from the Government on this issue or can we examine all the options in a sensible way to make sure we get a transport solution for south Dublin? We will need the same for west and north Dublin and for every other city and every rural community. We need radical ambitious plans for public transport to stop the €2 billion cost of gridlock that is evolving, to tackle our emissions and to improve our quality of life. Doing nothing or abandoning public transport projects should not be the answer. Is the Taoiseach open to looking at all the options that are still before us?

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