Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for joining us in the House, although I must say it is a real pity that the Minister for Transport is away on business because of the serious nature of the leak that we are discussing today in respect of the MetroLink project.

We are all aware, based on the last presentation from TII which was only two weeks ago, that the MetroLink project was supposed to be completed in 2027. Last Sunday, the Irish Mail on Sundayreported that work on the MetroLink project will not commence until 2027 and will not be completed until 2034. Some of us are old enough to remember when MetroLink was first mooted for north County Dublin. It was officially announced in Transport 21 back in 2005 when the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government was promoting efficient transport, probably before its time. Now, in 2021, instead of cutting the ribbon to mark the start of work on this particular project, the people of Dublin North are finding out from a leak in a Sunday newspaper that the project is now not going to be delivered until 2034. To be honest, there is no explanation that would make it acceptable to have a delay on top of the delays that we have experienced before.

Public transport is not just a response to the current climate crisis that we are in; it is an immediate need for the people in north County Dublin and north Dublin. We have been waiting on it for bloody well donkey's years. If there is one thing that we have all learnt in the last 18 months in respect of the positives from the pandemic, if there ever were any, it is about the quality of life and how much it has improved. We have learnt that getting back the time we previously spent commuting in the last number of years, because we have been able to work remotely, has enhanced our quality of life. Many of us have also realised that what is important in life is our children, friends and family and spending quality time with them. The hardworking people of Dublin North deserve the opportunity, after years of promises, to be able to avoid what we have seen for many years as the gridlock that starts at CityNorth Hotel just outside Gormanston. From 7 a.m., people are sitting in their cars waiting to get onto the M50 right back up to County Louth. The hard-working people who are travelling to and from work deserve an efficient transport system sometime in the 21st century.

MetroLink is about the efficient movement of people. As far back as when I bought my first house in Swords in 1996, it formed part of the sales brochures of what was to come for Swords. Here we are now, 25 years later, being told by a Sunday newspaper that decisions have been made to push the project back to 2034. We heard a statement from the Minister yesterday that he is committed to providing high-quality public transport in the greater Dublin area, that the national development plan includes these projects and that following consultation with his Government colleagues, a report will be published in the next few weeks.

I spent four years sitting around a Cabinet table and I know the kind of language that is designed to avoid giving bad news. The kind of language that was used yesterday does not provide us with the confidence we need that the MetroLink north project is on track for completion within a reasonable timeframe. If it genuinely is the Government's commitment to deliver top-notch public transport, we need somebody to come out and tell us definitively that what was reported in the Irish Mail on Sundayis wrong and inaccurate. We need dates of when the new development plan is coming out and an absolute commitment to the timelines that we are working on currently, which is a commencement this year or next year of a planning application and an actual live, working, physical metro train running from Swords, through Dublin Airport and into Dublin that will be active in 2027.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address this issue in the House today. As the Senator has already acknowledged, I am reading this into the record on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.

Improving public transport services and infrastructure is central to improving citizens' quality of life and addressing our climate action challenge. This Government is committed to a fundamental change in the nature of transport in Ireland. As a Government, we need to provide more options to people so that they can make the switch to sustainable mobility. Within the greater Dublin area, MetroLink is certainly one of these options. It will facilitate the development of a better integrated public transport system - a system that will enable people to switch between bus, light rail, metro and rail, all under the umbrella of a revamped and integrated fare structure. We know this challenge will be an enormous effort and in many ways, MetroLink as a project represents that enormity. It will likely be the largest ever publicly funded project in the history of the State.

I have seen the media reports of recent days and I think it is useful to clarify what the current position is in relation to MetroLink. There has been no Government decision to defer the project. Actually, the project faces two imminent and important milestones in the coming months, and these milestones will determine its progress in the coming years. First, there is Government approval of the preliminary business case, and second, there is the submission of a railway order application to An Bord Pleanála. There has not been any impact on either of these two hugely significant milestones over recent days.

On the first milestone, the Department of Transport has received the preliminary business case. This represents decision gate 1 under the public spending code. That preliminary business case is currently under review. For major projects like MetroLink, the public spending code requires a Government decision. The Minister for Transport expects to seek such a decision in the near future. If this is approved by the Government, it will allow MetroLink to move into the statutory planning system, subject to the completion of the necessary planning and environmental documentation. The second impending milestone is the submission of a railway order application for MetroLink. That application requires the finalisation of an extensive set of documentation, including environmental impact assessment reports. That work is ongoing in relation to both projects.

The Minister for Transport informed the House last week of his understanding that an extensive body of work remains in relation to finalising the preliminary design, completing the required environmental impact assessment reports and closing out property referencing issues. The Minister stated his understanding that this work would be completed during the first quarter of next year. Subject to the Government decision I mentioned earlier, the project will then be ready to seek planning permission. An indicative timeline was published in the very early stages of the public consultation on MetroLink, which indicated a railway order application could potentially be made by 2019 and construction could commence by 2021. However, as I have explained, it is the case that no railway order application has been made yet and work is still ongoing to finalise the application. Clearly, therefore, construction work will not commence in 2021 and realistically, any objective timeline for the start of construction must await greater certainty on planning permission.

I can reassure the Senator that the key focus at project level is to get the necessary documentation finalised to allow for a planning application and the key focus at departmental level is to conclude the review of the preliminary business case. I am happy to confirm that work is continuing in relation to both, with important progress expected in the coming months.

Regina Doherty (Fine Gael)
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I do not want to be disrespectful to the Minister for Education and I thank her for coming in to deliver the message from the Minister for Transport. Given that confidence has been shaken so badly in the last few days, what we need is something more definitive than ambition. We have been listening to ambition since the 1970s. The Minister laid out the timelines and how they have slipped already, long before the Irish Mail on Sundaytold us what they think they know.

The railway order application was supposed to have first been applied for in the third quarter of 2019. We are now being told that the work for the application is still not finalised. You would have to wonder what, in God's name, is causing the delay. I know that when the public consultation finished in 2018, there were objections raised by concerned residents about small issues that needed to be tweaked, hence the report that we got from TII only two weeks ago on its response to those concerns. I commend TII, because it really did listen and it is acting on people's concerns.

Here we are now, two full years after we were supposed to be applying for the railway order, saying that the work is not complete and we cannot submit a planning application until that work is complete. What we need to hear from the Minister for Transport, and we need to hear it soon, is when that application will be finished. When will the business case actually be accepted so that we can move to the stage where we know we are secure with money? When will the planning permission application actually be submitted to An Bord Pleanála? I am not talking about some wishy-washy hopefulness for the future. I am asking for actual dates so we can restore the confidence that the people of north Dublin have in delivering this project on behalf of this Government.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for her comments. There has been no Government decision to defer MetroLink. It is the intention of the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that construction would commence in the lifetime of the Government, noting the requirements of planning permission and the necessary Government approval. As I said earlier, I understand an extensive body of work remains to finalise preliminary design, completing the required environmental impact assessment reports and closing out property referencing issues before the railway order application will be ready for submission to An Bord Pleanála.

Aspects of this work were impacted by Covid-19 restrictions earlier in the year. I understand it is now likely to be quarter 1 of 2022 before the railway order application will be ready with submissions to An Bord Pleanála expected shortly thereafter. At the moment, the issues relating to finalising the application are separate from the review of the preliminary business case as is required under relevant legislation and the public spending code. However, Government approval is required to allow the application be submitted to An Bord Pleanála. On the basis of the current timeline it would appear likely that Government will consider the matter well in advance of the railway order application being ready for submission. Again, I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address the House on this matter and for her ongoing interest in and support of MetroLink. I will communicate to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, the urgency the Senator apportions to this issue.