Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 84: To ask the Minister for Transport if the Metro North project will be completed in 2013; the progress made to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23381/08]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 443: To ask the Minister for Transport the position regarding the Metro North project, which is to serve Dublin Airport and the Swords area of Fingal; when the project is due to commence; when a contractor is expected to be appointed to start works; if an operator has been identified and appointed; if not, when an operator is expected to be appointed; when the project is due to be completed at Dublin Airport and at Lissenhall in Swords, County Dublin; when he envisages the first metro train will commence operations on the Metro North line; if all the funding for the project is in place; if a final price for the project has been agreed; if the necessary land has been acquired, agreed or optioned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23137/08]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 84 and 443 together.

The Metro North project is progressing well. The tender documents were issued to the four bidding consortia last month and the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) has held meetings with these consortia recently. The bidders are putting their bids together with a view to submitting them towards the end of this year. The PPP procurement process will select not only the contractor to build Metro North but also the operator. The bidding consortia include construction, rolling stock and operating companies.

Detailed planning and design work on the project is ongoing and the RPA expects to lodge an application with An Bórd Pleanála for a railway order in the current year. The target date for completion of the project is 2013. However, this date will be critically determined by the outcome of both the planning and procurement processes. These processes will also determine when the main project will commence, when a contractor will be appointed, when the project will be completed and when operations will commence. Compulsory purchase powers for the land required will be provided in the railway order.

In January 2008, the Government approved Exchequer funding for advance works which will clear the way for the earliest possible start of the main construction work under the PPP contract. The Government also approved the funding structure for the main Metro North PPP contract. The required Exchequer funding is in place. The private funding element required under the PPP will be put in place as part of the procurement process I referred to earlier.