Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, to the Chamber and congratulate him on his appointment. I welcome him back to this House to which he has given such great service over the years.

I listened to Senator Clifford-Lee speaking about the MetroLink. She made the point, and is possibly correct, that from the point of view of Swords, which is an area in her would-be constituency, it could be transformative. I put on record what has happened to date. To date, we have spent over €300 million planning this project in its various different forms. That is a lot of money. In 2018, the MetroLink was costed at €3 billion and there was to be a 25-station link from Swords to Sandyford. A much smaller project which will run to Ranelagh, near where I live, is now pencilled in at €9.5 billion and the State more recently has estimated that this €9.5 billion could be of the order of €11.9 billion, close on €12 billion. Two independent bodies, namely, JASPERS and the major projects advisory group, as well as the Committee of Public Accounts, have expressed fears that the MetroLink project could cost up to €20 billion. That is a lot of money in anybody's book. The point I want to make is that it will probably take seven to ten years to be built, no matter what. That is €20 billion over those seven to ten years. However, we also have to take into account that this €20 billion the State is being asked to invest in this single line from Swords to Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh is going to absorb nearly all the available funding for other public transport projects in Dublin. I made the point to the oral hearing of An Bord Pleanála and I reiterate it here now that even though the Government seems to be committed in its programme to Government to proceeding with this particular MetroLink project, that €20 billion, which I think it will eventually cost the taxpayer, is being earmarked for that project when it could have provided a network of very light rail surface transport, like the Luas system to Finglas which is now proposed, right across Dublin to all of its suburbs, such as Lucan. Senator Andrews mentioned the Irish Glass Bottle site in Ringsend. All of Dublin could have a comprehensive network for the order of €12 billion to €15 billion if we abandoned the very heavy construction criteria which were used by the engineers when the cross-city Luas was put in place. I just want to sound this warning. My public life will be well over by the time any passenger alights in Swords for this transformative-----