Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will engage with Iarnród Éireann and Fingal County Council to service the immediate opening of the new Hansfield train station in west Dublin, which has been lying idle for a year despite a major demand for public transport in the area. [12014/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport I have responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. Following the establishment of the National Transport Authority on December 2009, the implementation and development of infrastructure projects in the Greater Dublin Area, such as Hansfield train station, comes under the remit of the NTA. The legislative basis for this is section 11(1)(e) of the DTA Act 2008: "Principal Functions of Authority - The principal functions of the Authority are to secure the provision of public transport infrastructure". Noting this I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for direct reply. Please advise my private office if there is no reply within ten working days.

Notwithstanding the above, I have engaged with the relevant parties -Irish Rail, Fingal County Council and the NTA. Funding is available in the NTA budget to provide a carpark for the station once an access road has been built. Fingal County Council appears willing to amend the SDZ planning scheme for the area to facilitate progress on this, though this has not happened to date. A major stumbling block is the ownership of the land and the loans associated with it, as the Deputy will be aware. The developers of the land around the station have not complied with their obligations to provide the access road. I continue to work on this matter and will see it through.