Labour’s transport spokesperson has told the second day of oral hearings into Dublin’ MetroLink project that he is fully supportive of the plan and the proposed route.
Duncan Smith, a TD for Dublin Fingal – where much of the project will be located – said Swords is the largest town in Ireland without a rail link.
He also added that Dublin ranks as the second worst city in Europe after London for traffic congestion.
Mr Smith was speaking during the second day of An Board Pleanála’s oral hearing into the MetroLink project.
He told the hearing that it was “embarrassing” that the capital’s airport did not have a MetroLink and that passengers have to use an overloaded bus service that was often confusing.
He described the MetroLink project as “transformative” and said that not enough credit has been given to its interconnectivity.
Mr Smith put a question to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) regarding route alignment changes and how that would affect delivery.
TII said that it would have an impact on the timeline of delivering the project and there would be a “negative impact on the cost to the taxpayer”.
TII said it is estimated that for each year the project is delayed, the total cost to economy is millions of euro.
