Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 April 2014
736. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will ensure that plans for Metro North are not abandoned in view of the new bus rapid transit proposals, in view of the importance of Metro North for the future of the Swords area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16703/14]
View answerThe National Transport Authority (NTA) has statutory responsibility for developing public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) including Metro, Rail and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) projects.
The NTA has proposed a BRT Scheme as an interim solution to the short term demand needs of the Swords/Airport corridor. BRT would be a fast and efficient form of public transport in some parts of Dublin and would be cheaper to build, operate and maintain than rail.
I fully share the view that BRT will not on its own replace rail based solutions where a higher capacity solution is required in the long-term, such as on the Swords/Airport corridor. For this reason, the NTA is undertaking a technical consultancy to assess the long term rail transport requirements of the North Dublin/Fingal corridor, extending from Finglas to Malahide and including Dublin Airport and Swords. This review will examine existing proposals including Metro North as well as other options for a rail-based transport solution to meet the area's needs in the long term. I expect to have a report on the outcome of this review by the end of the year.
Under the current capital plan to 2016, funding is available for the initial design and route selection of a small number of BRT schemes. Funding for delivery of these schemes, of which Swords/Airport has been identified as a priority, will be examined as part of the recently announced review of the medium term capital envelope to take account of priorities to 2020. My Departments key priority to 2020 will be, as under the current plan, to protect investment made to date and to maintain safety standards. If additional funds are available, which is not certain, there will be many competing transport projects from all modes in all regions. Only projects for which there is a clear need, which are affordable, have a sound business case and add value to existing infrastructure will be prioritised for funding to 2020.
