Deputy Joan Burton recently met with officials from Fingal County Council, the Rail Procurement Agency and Dublin Corporation to discuss the status of Metro North, Metro West and the DART underground, all of which are central to the development of a comprehensive public transport system to serve West and North Dublin.

“This comes hot on the heels of reports in the Sunday newspapers that Colm McCarthy, head of ‘An Bord Snip Nua’, is opposed to proceeding with Metro North in given the current economic climate and the state of the public finances.

“In replies to parliamentary questions, it has emerged that some €60m has been allocated for preparatory work for Metro North during 2009, although this is likely to come in under budget due to delays in getting the project under way. Some €23m has been allocated to the DART underground for 2009 while €10 the Metro West project. It is clear from the Department of Transport that while Metro North and the DART underground are considered to be priority projects, but people living in West Dublin will be disappointed to learn that Metro West looks first in line for the chop.

“A lot of figures have been bandied about in relation to Metro North, with speculation that the total cost to the taxpayer could be in the region of €4-6bn. It has to be remembered that this total cost would be spread over a period of 25 years or so. Also, there is evidence that civil engineering projects have seen a 20% drop in tender prices over the last 18 months and it would be wise to lock in these savings while it is still possible. In actual fact, Metro North is only likely to cost somewhere in the region of €200 to €400m a year during construction.

“5-7,000 people will be directly employed on the project during construction with recent studies showing that such projects generally support more than twice as many jobs indirectly during the construction period. This could mean up to 25,000 new jobs created in Dublin as soon as the project gets the green light.

“Figures recently released to the Labour Party indicated that each person on the dole costs about €20,000 a year. By keeping even 15,000 people off the dole, giving Metro North the go-ahead could actually save the taxpayer €300m a year during construction, making the project broadly ‘revenue neutral’. Metro North is expected to support in the region of 37,000 jobs in the Lissenhall-Ballymun corridor once it is fully operational.

“For the moment, Metro North is still considered to be a priority project. Initial tenders have been received from four potential consortia to design, build and maintain the Metro under a Public Private Partnership arrangement. These are to be whittled down to two consortia who will be invited to submit a ‘best-and-final-offer’ later this year once An Bord Pleanála has completed its own study and set out any stipulations that need to be met.

“If the Government gives the go-ahead, securing finance from a reluctant banking sector could be critically important. The Rail Procurement Agency is actively engaging with both bidders and potential financiers to ensure the project can be launched without a hitch. The European Investment Bank is an active player in this process and may well be in a position to help secure financing for the private sector operators in what is a difficult funding environment.

“Fingal County Council are actively supporting the delivery of Metro North and have indicated that financing the project is not a major concern from their perspective as, over the life of the Metro, they would expect to recoup half of their end of the deal through the increased development levies which would accrue as a result of this valuable piece of infrastructure being built in Fingal.

“Metro North will be ‘shovel-ready’ at the end of 2009, and the Government should stick to their commitment and give the green light for construction to begin in early 2010. It will give a massive boost to employment in West and North Dublin in the shorter, will support the development of the city as a whole over the longer term and is likely to be ‘revenue neutral’, at worst to the taxpayer during construction.

“There are real concerns now that this project is in line for the chop. Even if it indefinitely long-fingered, there is a very real danger that it will never come to fruition as many of the consortia involved have already invested millions in the project just to complete the initial tender stage.

“Proceeding with Metro North as soon as possible really is a ‘no-brainer’.”