Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

Which will be more than offset when it's in operational phase, so what is your point? And before you say electric bus's the construction of said bus's and the batteries that come with them and also fleet renewal would generate more emissions over a 40 year period easily

It's one of many reasons

They could tell them the EU want a metro in every EU capital

same gobshoites head to London and New York and wax lyrical about underground transport systems...

Interesting. So a sort of advisory quango. Not your usual external consultants.

If they're going to scrap it, I hope they do so sooner rather than later so we can get back to doing what we do best - designing metros from scratch after spending hundreds of millions on previous schemes that get given the chop.

Spot on. I may have jumped the gun there a bit. It's just that we've had the same Metrolink plan for years and everyone must be so bored with it by now.

But surely it must be past time for a brand new FULL study of Greater Dublin's transport needs.

We could have lots and lots of UK consultants producing another really expensive glossy report with loads of graphs, tables and sexy pictures of foreign metros. Only the highest production values to be used.

That should buy the government another 5 to 10 years of inertia and you can't put a price on that.

This is looking like a dead duck now, last month it was 10 billion odd and this month its 23 billion. Someone is working hard to scuttle the project, I dont even think it would have gotten accepted at 10 billion anyway. But 23bn is just off the charts, cities have hosted the Olympics AND built the infrastructure like metro lines to go with it for less than that.

Its insane stuff and you wouldnt know what to believe at this stage. All I know is pre pandemic it was at 3bn with perhaps 4bn being realistic due to the construction inflation that happened in the Childrens Hospital. But this latest figure of 23 billion being thrown about is barmy, its gotten to the point that you'd now be getting better value out of building a nuclear power plant than this 19 kilometre metro which I never thought Id say.

It doesnt help either than this firm Jaspers already do work for the European Investment Bank in advising on the spending of EU structural funds. This now gives politicians opposed to the project a perfect hook to hang their hat on.

"Both reports also expressed concern that the metro system will duplicate existing bus and Luas services along parts of the route, particularly the city centre and Ballymun, which could undermine the viability of other public transport services."

Wow. The upside-down logic here is astounding. Developed countries don't behave like this.

Absolutely bizarre statement. Completely normal for metros to replace bus and tram routes.

If this gets scrapped again, something has to change, there is something very rotten at the core of how we cannot deliver large infrastructure projects. Waste multi millions on consultants and plans but never a shovel in the ground.

I know officially its still going ahead but its wrong that senior politicians and civil servants are allowed sow the seeds of doubt off the record and hide behind reporters 'sources'. I hope I'm wrong but we've been here before and the soundings aren't good. I've always said that part of the planning team, there should be a much stronger pro metro pr campaign to put the negativity too bed quickly.