Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming here today. I wish to discuss with him the DART+ west upgrade.This is an extremely positive and essential project. It involves electrification of the line and an upgrade to the DART network which will bring services from the city centre to Maynooth, serving places such as Ashtown, Coolmine, Castleknock, Clonsilla and Hansfield. Capacity on the line will increase and the frequency of service will increase from six trains per hour to 12 trains per hour in each direction. Of course, it sets Dublin up as a sustainable city for housing development and economic development. It will also address the issue of the cost of congestion. The monetary value of the time lost to the economy is €350 million per annum and could increase to €2 billion by 2033.

There were reports last week of potential delays to MetroLink and DART+. I am seeking reassurance that the DART+ west project will go ahead as scheduled, that is, with capacity and frequency upgrades in 2025-27. That is really important.

Progress is not always straightforward and this project will involve the closure of level crossings. The report states that the closures are essential but it is very difficult for communities to potentially have parts of the community cut off by the closure of the level crossings or to have big infrastructure coming into the area and having an impact. As such, it has to be handled sensitively and transparently.

The first public consultation was held from 26 August to 21 October last year. That was in the middle of level 2 and level 3 restrictions. Only one of the areas that I engage with really mobilised as a community around those proposals because awareness of them was low and, of course, members of the community could not engage with each other. They did so under a cloud of stress. Of all the consultations I have engaged with, this was the one about which people were most stressed about because they were not allowed to meet or to knock on doors. The awareness generated by the leaflet was not very detailed and the devil is in the detail. How does one mobilise a team in those circumstances? The particular community to which I refer did so and two options were added post the consultation. That shows the importance of two-way engagement.

I was hoping that the importance of two-way engagement would be taken on board as part of the second public consultation. Unfortunately, it was launched during the summer. It started on 27 July and was to end at the beginning of September. The consultation period has been pushed out to 29 September but only because a lot of fuss was caused. The people who were not as involved in previous consultations may not have known that it was likely that the closing date would be pushed out, as has been the case for other public consultations. The Seanad is only just back from the summer recess and this is my first opportunity to raise this issue.

Many in the communities affected are relying on people who own businesses in the area, such as Ashtown Stables, to act on behalf of the communities. This is a community that is just getting to grips with the changes that are being proposed but the members of the public who attended a public consultation meeting that was arranged last week were muted, so there was no facility for engagement apart from chat. I cannot tell the Minister of State how that made people feel. Many people in the areas cannot use the Internet to access information and they cannot meet up in the way they are used to doing. The consultation took place during the summer holidays and now they were muted for the second extended consultation. I would value the thoughts of the Minister of State on that.