Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

Improving public transport services and infrastructure is central to improving citizens' quality of life and addressing our climate action challenge, and the Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. As the Government, we need to provide people more options so that they can make the switch to sustainable mobility. Within the national development plan, the Government has committed that MetroLink will be one of those options.

MetroLink faces imminent and important milestones in the coming months. These milestones will determine its progress in the coming years. First, there is the Government's approval of the preliminary business case. Second, there is the submission of a railway order application to An Bord Pleanála. There has been no impact on either of these significant milestones in recent days.

Regarding the first milestone, the Department of Transport has received the preliminary business case for the project. This represents decision gate No. 1 under the public spending code and indicates that the preliminary business case is currently under review. For major projects like MetroLink, the public spending code requires a Government decision. The Minister expects to seek such a Government decision in the near future. Approval by the Government will allow MetroLink to move into the statutory planning system, subject to the completion of the necessary planning and environmental documentation.

The second impending milestone is the submission of the railway order application. That application requires the finalisation of an extensive set of documentation, including environmental impact assessment reports. That work is ongoing. The Minister informed the House recently of his understanding that an extensive body of work remained in terms of finalising the preliminary design, completing the required environmental impact assessment reports and closing out property referencing issues. He stated his understanding that this work would be completed during quarter 1 next year. Subject to the Government decision, the project will then be ready to seek planning permission.

The preliminary business cases for BusConnects and DART+ are also being reviewed by the Department. The Minister expects to bring these projects to the Government for approval by the end of the year in line with the requirements of the public spending code. This will allow applications for a railway order for the DART+ West project and planning applications for the BusConnects core bus corridors to be submitted to An Bord Pleanála.

In addition to this necessary preparatory work, we are also seeing delivery on the ground. On active travel, we are all aware of the real progress that has been made in rolling out new and improved infrastructure across Dublin. We have seen some fantastic initiatives rolled out across all four Dublin local authority areas and the national development plan will support that in the years ahead.

Regarding BusConnects, we have already seen the roll-out of new services, with Howth starting earlier this year and Lucan to start by year's end. I am delighted to say that the reaction to the Howth spine has been positive.

The Luas green line capacity enhancement project has been successfully delivered with the delivery of eight new trams and 26 tram extensions.

Regarding rail, construction is continuing on the 41 new carriages for the greater Dublin area commuter rail fleet. They will arrive next year and enter into service in 2023.

I assure the Deputies that the Government is committed to improving and expanding public transport in Dublin. We have a busy programme ahead of us, but progress is being made and that progress will be supported by the funding secured in the national development plan.

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