Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The opportunity cost of going ahead with MetroLink is vast. The things we will not be able to do because we are making that choice are numerous. The huge improvement we could make in the capital's transport system is enormous and it is not going to happen now because all of our money is going to go into this single line from Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh to Swords via the airport. At the oral hearing, Colm McCarthy, an experienced economist, set out the very small difference it will actually make for passengers coming in to Dublin Airport. The amount of time a bus from Dublin Airport takes to get to the city centre will be roughly within three or four minutes of the amount of time it will take MetroLink to deliver passengers into the city centre. Most people do not want to travel from Dublin Airport to the city centre. They do not want to go to St. Stephen's Green or O'Connell Street or, in particular, to Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh as the terminus of this route. We are not going to proceed now with Luas for Rathfarnham, Churchtown or Lucan. All of those suburbs will have no Luas system because we have made this decision.

I may be the only person who is deeply suspicious of MetroLink. I remain deeply suspicious of it because I regard this single line as a vast money pit and I do not believe it will be "transformative", to use Senator Clifford-Lee's word, of public transport in this city. I do not believe it will have that effect. It will have a very marginal effect and it will be vastly expensive.