Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says a mid-term capital spending review will identify the best ways to spend an additional €4.1bn earmarked on transport, education and housing in the coming years.

Plans for the DART underground are back on the table after the project received planning permission.

An Bord Pleanála has granted planning permission for the construction of the DART Underground in Dublin, despite the Government deciding recently to shelve the project.

BUS and rail fares are set to increase sharply in the new year following confirmation that the annual subvention to the CIÉ group is to fall by 8%.

THE prospect of the multibillion-euro Metro North system ever being built appears doomed after a key state agency said it was inferior to another major rail project — the DART Underground.

More than €200m has already been spent on transport projects being put on ice, most of it on Metro North and the Dart Underground.

Chambers Ireland has said that, while the Government’s priority in Budget 2012 must be to return the public finances to a sound position, capital investment must be prioritised as a means of unblocking bottlenecks and enhancing productivity.

The Government is halting work on Metro North, Metro West, DART Underground, the Navan Rail line, the Thornton Hall prison and the Monaghan to Derry road through Northern Ireland.

The National Children's Hospital will proceed as planned next year, the Government has announced, but plans for Metro lines and a DART Underground have been shelved.

Dublin Chamber of Commerce has today welcomed Government plans to invest billions in the city's transport network, but warned that construction involved could cause widespread disruption.

Chambers Ireland’s Transport Users Council has today welcomed the commitment by Government to invest in excess of €12bn in the transport network.

Rail chiefs today sought permission to press ahead with a €2.5bn Dart Underground in Dublin with work expected to begin within two years.

Railway chiefs are on track to celebrate Dublin’s Dart system which marks its 25th anniversary in service today.