John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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415. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the total cost to date to the Sate for the planning of the metro west orbital transport route project; his plans, to advance the planning process of the metro west orbital transport route; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22986/16]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Metro West was proposed under the ​Transport 21 initiative as an orbital metro connecting Tallaght and Blanchardstown in the west of Dublin with the original Metro North proposal to Swords.  In October 2010 the then Railway Procurement Agency submitted an application to An Bord Pleanála for a Railway Order for the Metro West project. In light of the financial crisis, it was decided that the Railway Order application should be withdrawn in September 2011.  The total spend on the project was €18.7m. The National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA). As I previously confirmed to the Deputy, the NTA'S recently adopted Transport Strategy 2016-2035 does not include the original Metro West proposal but instead proposes the future development of an east-west Luas line, commencing in the residential areas of Lucan and connecting into Dublin City Centre. This would provide a high capacity radial service from this area to the City Centre, sufficient to cater for the high transport demand along this corridor, and would serve Lucan, Liffey Valley and Ballyfermot along its route. The Strategy also envisages the development of a Core Bus Network, which would include a range of radial and orbital routes serving Dublin West, and a Bus Rapid Transit scheme linking Blanchardstown with UCD.

The Capital Plan does not include funding for the east-west Luas line so it will not be advanced during the period of the current Plan.  The timeline for the project will be determined in the context of Integrated Implementation Plans brought forward by the NTA for implementation of its Transport Strategy and the availability of funding under future funding reviews.