2026-01-13

One of the great mistakes of the Government during the Celtic tiger era was the failure to ensure that when new homes were being delivered, adequate infrastructure services and public amenities were provided. This was an issue that affected every county in the State. While today there is no doubt that not enough homes are being delivered and particularly not enough social and affordable homes, unfortunately in many constituencies including my own when new homes are being built the Government is repeating the mistakes of the Celtic tiger period. I represent Dublin Mid-West. We have two very large strategic development zones in Adamstown and Clonburris. As those residential developments are being built out, a number of Government Departments simply are not ensuring the adequate provision of facilities such as school places, doctors, dentists and, particularly, public transport. One of the lessons we thought had been learned, particularly in the context of strategic development zones that have clear, legally binding phasing agreements for the delivery of homes, is that infrastructure, amenities and, crucially, public transport, should be delivered in parallel with the homes. Unfortunately, that is not happening today. Somebody who has recently decided to rent or buy in Adamstown, or in Seven Mills in Clonburris and is looking to get a train into Dublin city or home during peak time simply cannot do so because by the time it reaches Dublin from the commuter belt it will be full and there will not even be standing room. Likewise, BusConnects, an important project for the redesign of bus networks in Dublin, was blind to and continues to play catch up with the strategic development zones. When Eamon Ryan was Minister for Transport, he gave a commitment that the crucial DART+ South West project to electrify the line through my constituency - from Clondalkin, Kishoge and Adamstown to Hazelhatch - would commence in 2025 and be completed in 2030. The Minister of State can imagine the shock of people living in those communities when they heard from the new Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, in November of last year when the detail of the national development plan, NDP, expenditure programme was released that in fact work now will not commence until 2030 and will not necessarily be complete until as late as 2036. It is a very clear breach of what had been committed to by the Government previously. It is a breach, in my opinion, of the legally binding phasing agreements of the strategic development zones in those two locations. Also and crucially, it is simply no good for people who need to get to and from work and young people who need to get to and from school or college daily. Since the news was announced in November I have written repeatedly to the Minister by way of parliamentary questions urging him not just to provide an update but to reverse that decision and ensure that commencement of this vital public transport project starts as a matter of urgency and is completed on time. To give a sense of the scale of this, currently the train line through this portion of my constituency carries about 5,000 passengers per hour. The proposition of DART+ South West is to increase that to 20,000 passengers per hour in both directions so the scale of the need can be seen. I look forward to the Minister of State's response. I also hope he can relay the concerns, not just of myself and my constituents in Dublin Mid-West but of people in Dublin and Kildare as well, that the decision to delay the funding and delivery of this project needs to be reversed and brought back on track, if the Minister of State will excuse the pun, to be delivered on time by 2030.

On behalf of the Minister for Transport I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to address the House on this issue tonight. The DART+ programme comprises five different projects in and around the greater Dublin area. It will extend the existing network from the city centre to Maynooth, M3 Parkway, Hazelhatch and Celbridge, and Drogheda, and will improve current DART services from the city centre to Greystones. The programme will triple the length of the electrified network and will double city centre capacity from 26,000 passengers per hour per direction to 52,000 during peak hours. DART+ South West will extend DART services from the city centre to Hazelhatch and Celbridge, including four-tracking from Park West to Heuston Station. An Coimisiún Pleanála approved a railway order for DART+ South West in November 2024. In addition, procurement for DART+ South West and DART+ West is progressing with pre-qualification questionnaire notices for design and build works advertised in May 2025. The NDP transport sectoral investment plan provides an investment of €22.3 billion of Exchequer funding to the transport sector from 2026 to 2030, along with an additional allocation of €2 billion from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to support the development of MetroLink. Of this total allocation, funding in the region of €10 billion is being provided for public transport infrastructure plus €2 billion for MetroLink over the period from 2026 to 2030. The funding under the NDP transport sectoral investment plan will see significant advancements made in a number of public transport projects, including various elements of the DART+ programme including DART+ West. This funding will also allow compulsory purchase orders to progress DART+ South West and will provide the procurement process for the project with some of framework contracts being established in common with DART+ West and DART+ South West. It is important to state that, following on from the initial investment in the DART+ fleet, DART+ West was always recognised as the critical step for the DART+ programme which will help to enable DART+ South West and indeed the other infrastructure projects of the programme to develop for a number of reasons. These include the new depot in the Maynooth-Kilcock area to be delivered as part of the DART+ West project, providing essential stabling and maintenance facilities for the expanded fleet for the entire DART+ programme which is a prerequisite for supporting a service pattern across the entire DART+ network, including DART+ South West. DART+ West will deliver the critical electrification of the city centre rail network and the necessary city centre capacity upgrades. This is a prerequisite for future trains coming from the DART+ South West to enter the city centre network at Glasnevin junction for the Phoenix Park tunnel on the electrified and capacity upgraded rail system. Also, upgrades delivered under DART+ West, such as re-signalling and electrification, are vital for accommodating increased frequency envisaged on the DART+ South West. Finally, the new station for Spencer Dock, included as part of DART+ West, is a key node for future service integration supporting the operational flexibility required for DART+ South West, as several services will be terminated in the new station helping to address capacity issues around Connolly Station. The Department of Transport will continue to explore opportunities for additional funding, including through funding streams such as the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility, CEF, to complement national Exchequer funding, which may allow some projects to proceed to construction earlier than currently anticipated, including DART+ South West.

Virtually nothing that the Minister of State said has not already been communicated to me and other Deputies in the constituency by way of parliamentary questions. It does not address the central question. Right now, people who live in Adamstown, Lucan and Clondalkin desperately need the high-frequency DART service into and out of the city centre to be delivered, as was originally promised, by 2030. Nobody understands why, when the NDP expenditure plan was published in November, no funding was allocated for DART+ South West until after 2030. It makes no sense whatsoever. What the hardworking tax-paying people of Dublin Mid-West and the surrounding areas deserve is for Deputy Darragh O'Brien to honour the commitment that was made to them and to others by his predecessor, Eamon Ryan, and revisit the funding allocation, ensure the funding is provided immediately once the procurement issues are agreed and get the work done. That is what is required. There is no explanation as to why the change and no explanation as to why there is now a potential five-year delay. I note that the Minister of State has given some glimmer of hope at the end that some funding decisions may be reversed. I urge the Minister of State to ensure that he communicate back to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the need for him to make a clear public statement as a matter of urgency that the funding will be released and work will start once procurement is finished in order that the working public, the school and college-going public, and people who want to go in and out of Dublin city centre for leisure or recreation activities will be able to get a DART every 12 minutes from Adamstown, Kishoge and Clondalkin train stations by 2030, which they were promised by the previous Government and should be guaranteed by this Government.

Again, I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue this evening. I will relay the key important points that the Deputy raised to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. As I stated earlier, to recap some of the recent developments within the DART+ South West project, the NDP sectorial investment plan for transport was published in November last. It enables advancements of various elements of the DART+ programme, including DART+ West. The roll-out of the new DART+ fleet, which is currently undergoing safety testing, will progress from 2027 onwards and will allow the cascade of the existing train fleet to service new areas on the national rail network. We will also see the redeployment of this fleet in a manner for Iarnród Éireann and the National Transport Authority to decide on the basis of a range of factors and this has the potential for some of that fleet to be deployed to DART+ South West lines. That, indeed, will add additional capacity in advance in the infrastructure upgrades. To the Deputy's point that this is about funding, the Department will continue to explore opportunities for additional funding, including through funding streams such as the European Union Connecting Europe Facility, CEF, to complement national Exchequer funding. The NDP will again be reviewed around 2028 and updated at that point. This will also provide an additional opportunity to examine the potential to provide additional funding to additional projects, as the Deputy stated earlier, through the DART+ South West programme.