Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I rise today to express my deep dismay regarding the new completion date of 2034 for MetroLink. The new completion date has been given to us today, after many weeks of speculation following media reports a couple of weeks ago. This is only a hopeful date. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, said that “hopefully” we will be able to deliver MetroLink by 2034. I would like to remind the House the exact schedule that we have been given for what was metro north and is now MetroLink. In 2001, the project was first announced. That was more than 20 years ago, when it was known as metro north. It was given a completion date of 2012. In 2011, it was postponed. It was relaunched in 2015, with the completion date of 2027. Now, we hear that it will not be completed until, at the very best, 2034.

This is a devastating blow for the northside of Dublin. When I say the northside, I mean north County Dublin and the north of city, the whole area of north Dublin, which is the fastest growing part of western Europe. Not to have something major like a metro to deliver connectivity between communities, educational institutions and health institutions is a particularly bad blow for the people of Swords. Swords has a population of more than 45,000. To that in context, it is the size of Waterford city. Swords has poor public transport infrastructure. There is no DART in Swords, there is no Luas, and now there will not be any metro. It is a disgrace. People have finally lost hope that the metro will be delivered.

North County Dublin has the youngest and the fastest growing population in Europe. There is much construction going on there at the moment. There are many planning applications in train also to deliver the much-needed homes for Dublin. However, one cannot deliver these homes without transport infrastructure. We need transport-led housing development. This will create sustainable communities. However, what is going on at present is unsustainable. Those of us living in north County Dublin are facing crammed buses, crammed trains and overcrowded motorways. It is disgraceful. We have a busy airport which is serviced, by and large, by country boreens. They are servicing Dublin Airport, which is a major employer and a major strategic point for this country.

I want a full debate with the Minister, Deputy Ryan, on the metro specifically. I know others have mentioned it, and have mentioned other transport projects. It is a vital piece of national infrastructure-----