Dessie Ellis (Dublin North-West, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the fact that the Luas Finglas extension railway order was granted by An Coimisiún Pleanála in October 2025. This marks a major milestone in the progress of a project long in the making and long overdue. The project involves extending the existing Broombridge Luas green line to Charlestown, which will add four new stops at St. Helena's, Finglas south, Finglas village, St. Margaret's Road and Charlestown Shopping Centre. All these areas, which the Luas extension is either going through or bordering on, are areas of high population. The extension will also carer for a 350 space car park-and-ride facility near the M50. The addition of this extra 4 km of Luas line will be of enormous benefit of the people and business community of Finglas who had good reason to believe that areas like Finglas were being neglected, marginalised and left behind when it came to such large-scale projects.

It is long past the time that Finglas had a project of such stature, which would vastly improve the quality of life for many residents of Finglas. The new BusConnects routes have given rise to concern among Finglas residents who have complained about the loss of direct bus connections, reduced bus frequencies and longer travel times. If the Luas extension was in place now, it might have mitigated many of these concerns. It will nevertheless improve connectivity and have enormous environmental benefits by taking approximately 440,000 private car journeys off the road along the route annually and extend the transport service to an additional 60,000 or more people. The project could also have been more ambitious and allowed the extension to cross the M50 to continue to the airport. We are past the first hurdle in attaining the railway order. There now follows the procurement process and, finally, the construction phase. We have seen time and again how major projects like this have begun with great fanfare and a proposed timeline for completion only to for the timeline to slip significantly and costs escalate.

The current proposed timeline of 2031 for the completion of the construction of the extension is a problem. I am concerned that even this date is too far into the future and the project will slip further. The people of Finglas need this service and there should be no delay in progressing and completing it as soon as possible. Charlestown in Finglas has a growing population and people are already frustrated with regard to the public transport options or lack thereof.

The proposed date of construction is dependent on receiving the proper funding for the project. At present, the proposed cost of the project is €600 million. Apart from construction costs, there will be a significant cost in terms of land acquisition. A lot of money has already been spent before a sod has even been turned. I am concerned about the money being made available for the project and that it stays within budget.

Concerns have also been raised regarding the quality and design of the planned cycle paths which have been described as substandard and disjointed. There also needs to be a community gain to offset the clear impact the project will have on local communities. This is something that needs to be included in the delivery of the project.

The route of the Luas to Finglas extension was changed in order go round pitches at Farnham Drive and those used by Erin's Isle GAA Club and Rivermount Football Club. These clubs have to be facilitated and an all-weather pitch must be constructed to cater for the needs of the clubs and community.

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