The following are tables of the major transport projects status in the planning process.
Light and Heavy Rail Projects Dublin:
Project
Status
ABP
Notes
Metrolink
In ABP
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/314724
Requires Further Consideration
Luas Finglas
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/321278
In ABP due 26/05/2025
Dart+ SW
Fully Approved
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/316119
ABP Approved 13/11/2024
Dart+ West
In JR
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/314232
ABP Partly Approved 18/07/2024, Depot rejected, IN JR
Dart+ North
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/320164
In ABP due 03/02/2025
Dart+ South
Prelim Design
Dart+ Depot
BusConnects Dublin:
Spine
ABP Case #
Liffey Valley to City Centre
G
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/314056
Clongriffin to City Centre
D
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/313182
Clongriffin - The hearing has taken place, with judgment scheduled to be issued on the 13/03. Note that this date is indicative only, and could easily change.
Ballymun/Finglas to City Centre
E / F
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/314610
Belfield/Blackrock to City Centre
B
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/313509
Blackrock - Case is due for mention on the 10/02. This is essentially the very start of the case, where motions are made. Expect 7 months or so from this date.
BlackRock 2 - Case is due for mention on the 10/02 as well. Same as above. Got to tell you, just from reading about their grounds in the press, this one's a real stretch.
Swords to City Centre
A
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/317121
Blanchardstown to City Centre
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/313892
Blanch - Hearing scheduled to begin 07/05. This will be when both sides argue their case. This date could change.
Ringsend to City Centre
C
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/317679
Lucan to City Centre
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/314942
Tallaght/Clondalkin to City Centre
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/316828
Templeogue/Rathfarnham to City Centre
ABP Approved, in JR Window
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/316272
ABP Approved 16/12/2024 - JR Window close Monday 10/02/2025
Kimmage to City Centre
F
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/317660
Bray to City Centre
E
https://www.pleanala.ie/en-ie/case/317742
ABP Approved 28/01/2025 - JR Window Closes Tuesday, 25/03/2025
Key:
Note: The JR Window Close date is an estimate, I'd give it 2 days beyond the date to be certain. The ABP due dates are estimates and often slip.
Thanks to https://www.boards.ie/profile/gjim https://www.boards.ie/profile/cgcsb https://www.boards.ie/profile/CatInABox https://www.boards.ie/profile/LXFlyer for the info that went into the above tables.
Fully Approved (now at contract tendering)
ACP Approved
30/09/2025
ACP Approved 30/10/2025 3 - JR's filled against it.
Fully Approved (excluding Depot)
ABP Partly Approved 18/07/2024, Depot rejected, JR was withdrawn.
Railway Order Approved
19/08/2025
Fully Approved - Contracted
Contract awarded, work to start 2026
Tallaght/Clondalkin
IN JR
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2024.0001033 - Vet Clinic
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2024.0001037 - Collinstown Business Park
There are newspaper reports that an agreement has been come to too drop the two JR's, but not confirmed yet
Templeogue/Rathfarnham
H.JR.2025.0000206
I believe this JR case:
H.JR.2025.0000525 https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2025.0000396
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2025.0000509
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2025.0000497
Other Projects:
Search Criteria for JR cases in High Court against the NTA:
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?proceeding=&caseRef=&caseNumber=&year=&caseparty1=NATIONAL%20TRANSPORT%20AUTHORITY&caseparty1checked=Both&caseparty2=&caseparty2checked=Both&setDownVenue=&setDownType=&setdownNumFrom=&courtdate=&listtype=&appealcasereference=&supremecasereference=&page=1
I've created this thread pulled out of the Bus Connects thread for visibility and so it doesn't get lost and I can keep the this post updated over time. The idea is to have one place to keep track of how all the major transport projects are progressing through the planning process.
So far I've included just the major projects in Dublin, but I'll try and add ones from around the country in time. I'm only adding the projects that would go through ABP, etc., but not projects like DART+ Fleet, Luas Fleet, BusConnects network redesign, etc. which while very important can proceed without the planning.
I'm mostly only adding active projects or ones likely to enter planning in the next year or so.
Please comment on any projects you think should be added, links to ABP, updates, etc.
Very helpful. Thanks bk
Just putting a quote post, some mobile devices don't seem to want to show the table right, but it works fine inside a quote…
sticky this one!
And unsticky the "Infrastructure Index Thread - updated 06 July 2010" one. It contains nothing of value in 2025.
The Blackrock case was due to start today. I don't know if this is still happening. Rathfarnham JR window is expired with no fanfare, this is surprising actually, I had expected a few well heeled bored retirees to want their day in court.
I think ABP are taking the piss with metrolink at this stage. I've heard rumblings of decision due soon for weeks now but nothing credible.
The DART+ North project is overdue on a decision but ABP have yet to give the courtesy of updating the website to 'further consideration needed'
the lack of anything on Dart+ South is bizarre, I know the project has been gutted, but that was 2 years ago and the plans (which are presumable not particularly complex) are now years late for going to consultation.
The other baffling delay is the Strand Road cycle route JR. They'd have had the eastern bypass decided quicker than this basic cycle lane plan.
No idea why, but it seems I can't edit the first post now! But I can edit my second post, so I've added the updated table to the second post. Maybe Sam can sort the permissions.
Thanks cgcsb, great news on Rathfarnham, updated.
I wonder if the recent decision from the courts on wind farms and the climate emergency has put the cat amongst the pigeons relating to these and possible other potential future JR's. I wonder if they are now thinking anything but the most solid objections are likely to be successful, there is a new high bar set and some parties might be thinking that a nice negotiated settlement will be better then months in court only to get publicly ridden by a judge saying they are blocking public transport during a climate emergency!
ABP are probably appealing that, hoping to get a less hippyish judge in the supreme court
This is very interesting stuff, particularly around the duty of candour. As a quasi-judicial body, ABP has probably underestimated its need for transparency. If you follow employment law, you will realise that the Labour Court has been similarly criticised by both the High Court and the Supreme Court.
The ESB is now saying it doesn't have the capacity to deliver new power connections 3 DART projects and metrolink simultaneously. This will likely be a serious bottle neck. And of course one which was utterly predictable
Whatever you might think about this case, Ireland stands no chance of being a leader in wind generation anytime soon with a planning system like ours.
Assuming I’m reading it right, the High Court judge (Justice Charles Meenan) that ruled against DCC in the Stand Road case is now a member of the Court of Appeal, the court that is hearing the appeal against that judgement.
I’ve no doubt that the judicial system has plenty of experience in ensuring judicial impartiality but perhaps they’re trying to find a way to rule against his wacky judgement without simultaneously accusing a colleague of being a nut job?
Is it possible that the ESB (a Gov semi-state body) can renegue on providing electricity to premier state projects? The sum of these projects represent some of the largest infrastructure projects in the state since Ard na Crucha - which was the founding of the ESB. How soon they forget.
Surely a few sharp words from the relevant minister to the powers that be (pun intended) in the ESB would result in a realignment of their priorities.
He would recuse himself from the case. His colleagues would go out of the way to not reference him in their judgement.
There is more than one way to crack a nut.
How soon they forget?
You mean nearly 100 years on?
Judging by the mess caused by spruce plantations in the west last month I'd assume the ESB will now have bigger fish to fry in terms of priorities over the next few years. There'll be huge political pressure to get their house in order and improve network resilience, maintenance etc in the west
Though given our complete lack of a rail infrastructure industry across the board I'd have thought there won't be enough capacity or expertise to do more than one Dart+ project at a time anyway
Yes, I do.
The history of the ESB is built on the electricity service they created over the last 100 years, including rural electrification which was a forward thinking and brave project for the state at the time.
Only the extension of free secondary education to all could be measured on the same scale for bringing Ireland forward in development as a nation.
Are they now saying they are not up to the job of providing service to the state for major state funded infrastructure projects - even though they have the best part of a decade to provide them?
Or is it they are smarting after their failure to reinstate service to 758,000 subscribers in a reasonable time frame. The last home only resupplied in the last few days - 19 days since the storm.
There have been significant question asked about our sticks and string approach to local electricity distribution. Are the poles exclusively bitumen soaked timber with many past their life span? Were the power lines passing through forestry plantations monitored against the risk of trees falling and bringing down the cables? Are the cables that carry power insulated so that if they fall they are not of lethal danger to people who happen by? Are there far too many single points of failure in the network?
That is a lot of questions for ESB management to answer. Surely someone in ESB management should be considering their position.
I don't think it's that the esb are refusing to do stuff it's more that, after almost 100 years of public under investment and periods of zero investment, they are currently not in a position to build the infrastructure to accommodate 100kms of electrified rail in greater Dublin, plus a dramatic increase of housing and data centre demand.
The all Ireland Rail strategy caused quite the giggle in the ESB. Whatever about delivering electrified rail in greater Dublin, the prospect of electrified rail the prospect of electrified rail services in places like county Kilkenny or Athlone (which only has 110kv transmission at the moment) is just a laugh. The transmission network is very far from supporting this vision, possibly centuries away.
Outside Dublin, the rail network is most likely to be AC powered (around 25 kV) and the service frequencies are pretty low (probably only 30-40 trains on the entire network at any given time). This really isn’t anywhere near as big an issue as powering of a couple of hundred trains at peak times within the Dublin area is.
Domestic electricity consumption has fallen in the last 20 years. Moving to heat-pumps will reverse that trend, of course, but against that, domestic solar and battery is pushing down residential demand.
Data-centres are the big villains in the Irish grid. These are enormous loads that run effectively 24/7, and they need more backup and redundancy than other industrial uses, and we’ve got more Data Centre load per capita than any other European country (this is due to our geographical proximity to the US, which reduces latency for co-located services).
Strand Road Appeals Judgement due 11th April 2025
https://irishcycle.com/2025/02/12/long-awaited-strand-road-cycle-path-judgment-due-in-april-2025/
I'm hearing that the JRs against DART+West are to be heard on the last week of June. Hopefully the judgement will be swift.
All has gone quiet on the metrolink front.
I think these are the cases? If so then the hearing is currently scheduled for 23 June
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2024.0001133
https://services.courts.ie/high-court-search?caseRecordId=H.JR.2024.0001140
This scheme is a complete disgrace, instead of just moving the wall back 4m they are more interested in forcing cars off the road.
Crazy post! You do realise large swaths of the rural MV network had to be completely rebuilt due to forestry corridors not being maintained by the forestry companies who are now supposedly saying they could not get tree felling licences off the government department responsible.
ESB are massively expanding the network in the Dublin area but have to deal with the same Planning department that everyone else has to deal with. Can anyone post a link to where the ESB has said it can’t deliver the electricity for these projects at the same time as providing electricity for all the new hosing that use heat pumps and EVs plus deliver electricity to its current customers? Id be interested to read that press release.
Who is responsible for maintaining the power-line corridors in forest plantations? ESB or plantation owners? Do either need felling licences for thinning to maintain access to power-lines? I thought thinning was just forestry management.
2 nd point - do the ESB only use timber poles for MV lines, and are they strict about inspection and lifetime replacement?
Are ESB claiming difficulty in providing domestic supply for heat pumps and EV charging?
Interested to hear your answers.
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/what-do-we-tell-someone-waiting-900-days-for-a-tree-felling-licence-sherlock/ 2. Timber poles plus a small amount of composite polls are used. They are regularly patrolled as far as I know.
3. I don’t know? You said they were did you? I have t seen any press release saying they won’t connect them apart from on this thread.
ESB are pursuing Heat pump business at the moment - they will not do retrofit premises unless it includes a heat pump. Plus they want everyone on smart meters which OK, but it is not possible to revert back. They do not appear to be walking away from domestic business. New housing developments might be a problem, but planning is difficult. Too many NIMBY appeals and JRs.
So, it is the forestry plantations that are responsible for much of the delay in restoring power. Irish Water for over reliance on electricity supply without any backup plan.
The “delay” in getting power restored was rebuilding entire sections of MV and LV line due to the unprecedented damage caused by the storm.
ESB plus Framework contractors plus contractors from abroad, were absolutely flat out for the duration of the restoration effort.
@tom1ie
This has gone way off topic, so I am leaving it there.
