Cranks gonna crank.
All his major roles since the early 2000s have been in Australia or New Zealand. It’s quite likely that he underestimated just how far away Ireland is from his home. It’s easy to think that you could might be able to fly first class (at his salary, that’s not unrealistic) and pop home for a few long weekends at a time but that’s not really workable, especially if the role is demanding.
The other thing is he may have been able to make it work for himself, but maybe not his partner or the rest of his family. It's a shame he is going.
Not being able to reliably transit through the middle east and the prospect of not being able to fly at all soon given that 2,000 tankers are stuck in the Persian Gulf may have expedited his decision to quit sooner rather than later. The current madness highlights that we can't afford not to deliver ML and a load of other zero carbon transport infrastructure but alas I do fear the global recession coming down the road. It feels like December 2019 right now. No idea what is about to hit us. It's our perennial problem....we take so damn long to plan anything that a recession is almost inevitable by the time we go to build it. I really, really hope I'm wrong and that by some miracle Trump's misadventures end soon and we can get back on track decarbonising our economy and losing our dependence on this damn oil.
He explicitly said it in one interview, he was not going to be here when it was actually built.
He also said how difficult it was with his partner.
It’s a shame he isn’t here for the tender getting completed but it’s not going to make much of a difference at this stage.
The tender and procurement process will be finished in a year and half maybe so he should've stayed until then. He's known as a world expert in that area.
Then hand it over for someone else to do the construction part.
It's obvious that he wouldn't be there until 2035.
I think the Iran war and energy crisis is just temporary anyway.
Things will be back to normal in a few months.
I agree it's possible it affected Sean Sweeney's decision though.
We have these updated cost estimates coming. If it's less than €15bn that would seem like a positive but the situation in the middle east must be a concern here.
I believe the phrase rhymes with “clucking bell.”
This is a bit much. What we got from him was that the project went from being quite uncertain to being a near certainty. If that only cost €1 million it was great value for money.
I don’t believe they will be significantly higher. This project received a lot more
The recent rise in energy costs will be factored into the estimate. It takes a lot of petroleum to build an electric railway.
As for Mr Sweeney, I think a lot of people decrying his decision have never moved abroad later in life. Jaunting off to Australia in your 20s is grand because you really don’t have any long, deep ties to Ireland at that age, but the older you are, the harder it is to leave home: I know someone who made the opposite journey, at a younger age (40s, rather than 60s), and still found things extremely difficult mentally for their first five years here - Ireland is a dark, cold, wet place; outside of cities, we really don’t know how to welcome “blow-ins”; everything is nearly as expensive as Australia, but without the high salaries. Oh, and there’s a completely new set of germs which means you’ll have a head-cold for 24 months.. The person I knew really struggled, and that was with the benefit of having their Irish partner here with them, to provide emotional support and some kind of a social “in”
I wish him well, and am very grateful for his efforts in getting this project started.
It's a real pity about Mr Sweeney.
Above all else, he has been an excellent advocate for the project and we can only hope that whoever is brought in to replace him keeps up the pressure on a Government whose default mindset is to find any excuse to cancel and delay infrastructure.
We've seen it with Luas Finglas and DART+ South West having their funding withdrawn, despite being shovel ready, planning permission, record capital funds available and a massive housing crisis, etc.
Some concerning comments from TII CEO:
No delay to MetroLink after director's departure - TII
CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) Lorcan O'Connor said that MetroLink's procurement and construction would "not at all" be delayed by Programme Director Seán Sweeney's departure.[…]Mr O'Connor said that although a "global hiring search" begins again for a new Project Director, "one thing has changed".A successor to Mr Sweeney will not need convincing that the project "is actually going to happen" as it is now funded and has planning permission..."and we can point to the fact that the project is in a good place at procurement with the next stage being construction".
CEO of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) Lorcan O'Connor said that MetroLink's procurement and construction would "not at all" be delayed by Programme Director Seán Sweeney's departure.
[…]
Mr O'Connor said that although a "global hiring search" begins again for a new Project Director, "one thing has changed".
A successor to Mr Sweeney will not need convincing that the project "is actually going to happen" as it is now funded and has planning permission..."and we can point to the fact that the project is in a good place at procurement with the next stage being construction".
Wrong attitude entirely. No project in the hands of an Irish government is ever guaranteed it's "actually going to happen". Tell that to the residents of Adamstown and Clonburris who've just had their DART cancelled by Darragh O'Brien. That too was "funded", until it wasn't.
The last time Metrolink was tendered it was much further along before it was scrapped.
I hope the replacement isn't as sanguine as Mr O'Connor. This metro needs someone in there fighting for it and making the case every day until the diggers are physically in the ground. Any dip in the global economy, corp receipts going down, pressures on fuel prices, and it'll be all too tempting to cancel a big €12 billion+ project.
Honestly this is boring posting, just trying to read into stuff that isn’t there.
The guy said it last year - being away from home was very difficult. He was travelling back every 3 months and his partner in between.
In between the various emotional outbursts on this topic this stuff grates so much.
VeryOwl didn’t talk about the reasons for Sweeny’s departure at all. Did you read their post?
I didn't remark on his family life.
All I said about Mr Sweeney is he's been an excellent advocate and I hope his replacement is equally effective. It makes a big difference having someone public and visible fighting the case.
https://www.irishtimes.com/transport/2026/04/18/metrolink-spending-tops-360m-before-construction-begins-department-figures-show/
Building a n extension to your house will cost you thousands before "construction begins", so why did the Irish Times expect that the biggest construction project in the history of Dublin would cost nothing until the first diggers arrive?
Idiots.
Our problem is in a nutshell.
In most European countries it would be a fraction of this while we are happy to pour hundreds of millions down the drain. Our whole planning and legal system needs to be reworked to get value for money.
A properly functioning country could have Dublin covered in metro lines for what will likely be the total cost of 1 Metrolink line - a line that is already butchered because of a power of a few south siders.
Not idiots at all. They know exactly what they are doing
So we are waiting for yet another government decision in June despite them assuring everyone the project is going ahead.
We are a complete mess.
Just get on with it ffs.
€360m is a huge amount to spend on planning a single metro line. Mind, I was reading about the Thames Crossing project spent something like £1.2 billion on planning, and nothing's been delivered yet, so we're not alone!
What’s the government decision? I thought we were locked and loaded on this project no? They’re hardly wringing their hands on this and LUAS Finglas with both having an RO and planning?
it’s about 4% of the estimated final cost which seems about average for any construction project.
The system is set up to outsource as much responsibility to various quangoes as possible, but eventually it does need to come before the cabinet with the final "best guess" price tag for them to sign off on. Ultimately, it's definitely necessary, as you still need to reduce the risk that the quango doesn't keep the price down. Imagine the furore if a project was put forward with a 2 billion euro price tag, and then a quango signs contracts for 20 billion with no government approval….
Spending approvals are needed along the way. Next step (AG2) appears to be Ministerial approval, not needed by Minister anymore.
Edit; changes made since that infographic made.
There was a casual mention on one of the Sunday radio shows that Robert Watt (Dept of Health Sec gen) might get it. I think it was off the cuff and not that serious. I really hope it's an outsider more like Sweeney with previous international experience - maybe someone originally from the UK rather than the opposite corner of the globe. The family situation might well be a big consideration this time.
A discussion on the Luas Finglas thread about ESB cables reminded me that I hadn't heard about ACP approving the Metrolink Underground Cables application yet.
Turns out that ACP issued a request for information, requiring them to show the PFAS management plan, and also the site where it'll be triaged and held…..
If you're wondering why the hell ACP are asking them about this, so are the people writing the response. It's very much along the lines of "We know that you can ask for this stuff, but this has already been approved in a completely different application, and has nothing to do with this project….. Anyway, here's your info because we don't want to piss you off…."
Looks like this is the last of it, and should be approved quite soon.
The Irish "planning system" is such a minefield of total bullsh!t.
The reality is that as things stand nobody alive today is going to enjoy proper infrastructure in Dublin. The very best we'll see is bits and pieces lucky to survive the country's planning industrial complex which is what it is. Lots of vested interests making money out of all this especially consultants.
With all the "airport metro link" talk in the Luas Finglas thread I was going to respond there with this but I'll put it here where it belongs instead….
ML may well encourage a few "out of town" hotels to spring up around the airport and Swords. With a ca. 20 minute journey time to the city centre it would be a practical way to add lower cost accomodation and attract tourism to the city. Dublin is increasingly becoming a hub, with more connections happening. It would be wise to try to get people to do stopovers rather than layovers and spend a day or two in Dublin city on their way from Europe to North America and vice versa. Dublin is a small city centre you can "do in a day". Why not try to market it as such? The Icelandics do this with generally free stopovers allowed on Icelandair when flying transatlantic. It encourages people to visit Iceland, a country people may not want to spend a full two week holiday in but would like to see at least once.
