Lorraine Clifford-Lee (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Everyone is very welcome back. I wish to raise a matter I saw on the front of the Irish Mail on Sundaylast week. I was very concerned to read the front-page story about the €14 billion hole in the national development plan budget. I believe a memorandum was brought to Cabinet today by the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, on this inflation-driven deficit. It is very concerning. The memo apparently indicated that projects such as the metro, DART+ and road projects would have to be recalibrated or scaled back and that there is even a threat to some of them proceeding.

The deprioritisation of key infrastructure projects is, I am sure, of enormous concern to everybody in the country but those of use in north County Dublin, who have been promised the metro since 2001, are devastated to hear of this. We have waited long enough for this €10 billion project. While that is a very large amount, it is going to deliver wonderful benefits for the country and the people living in north County Dublin. When the metro project is spoken about, it is always in the context of linking Dublin Airport with the city centre and facilitating tourists landing in Ireland.More importantly than that, it is for the people of north County Dublin. It is for people living in Rush, Lusk, Ballyboughal, Oldtown, Man of War and places like that which have woefully inadequate public transport links. We are absorbing the housing needs of the whole of Dublin at the moment. Thousands of houses are being built, and we welcome that. I welcome all of the additional housing we are getting but planning permission is being granted on the basis of having the metro in place for all the people who are joining our communities in north County Dublin. If we are looking at the project being scaled back then that is devastating. I would like a proper debate in this House on the delivery of metro north. We need a commitment from the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that this will not be deprioritised or scaled back.