Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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20. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport when preparatory work for metro north will resume; and if he supports the establishment of the Bus Rapid Transit Network route between Dublin Airport and Dublin city centre. [21485/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The National Transport Authority (NTA)  which has statutory responsibility for developing public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA)  is currently undertaking a technical consultancy to assess the long-term rail transport requirements of the North Dublin/Fingal corridor, extending from Finglas to Malahide and including Dublin Airport and Swords.  This review will examine existing proposals including Metro North as well as other options for a rail-based transport solution to meet the area's needs in the long term. I expect to have a report on the outcome of this review by the end of the year.  

The NTA's Integrated Implementation Plan 2013-2018 has proposed a BRT Scheme as an interim solution to the short term demand needs of the Swords/Airport corridor.  BRT would be a fast and efficient form of public transport in some parts of Dublin and would be cheaper to build, operate and maintain than rail.  However, I fully share the view expressed in the Implementation Plan that BRT will not on its own replace rail based solutions where a higher capacity solution is required in the long-term, such as on the Swords/Airport corridor.

Under the current capital plan to 2016, funding is available for the initial design and route selection of a small number of BRT schemes. Funding for delivery of these  schemes, of which Swords/Airport has been identified as a priority, will be examined as part of the recently announced review of  the medium term capital plan to take account of priorities to 2020.  My Departments key priority to 2020 will be, as under the current plan,  to protect investment made to date and to maintain safety standards. If  additional funds are available,  which is not certain,  there will be many competing transport projects from all modes in all regions.  Only projects for which there is a clear need,  which are affordable, have a sound business case  and add value to  existing infrastructure will be prioritised  for funding to 2020.