Ahern derails €2.4bn Metro plan

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern said yesterday the Dublin Metro underground rail system would cost too much.

Séamus Brennan's €2.4 billion proposal suffered a reversal after Mr Ahern said it would be difficult to justify the costs.

While the Minister for Transport launched the LUAS light rail system in Dublin, his hopes of getting Cabinet backing for the first section of the Metro, costing €1.5 million and running from the city centre out to the airport, were cast into doubt.

The plan to build the Metro has been sitting on Mr Brennan's desk for almost two years. The minister has been promising to bring forward a recommendation on the Metro to the Cabinet for a decision "in the coming weeks" since last summer.

Aside from speculation intensifying that Mr Brennan will not be in the transport portfolio after the autumn Cabinet reshuffle, the Fianna Fáil veteran's name is also strongly rumoured to be linked with the European Commissioner's post.

Last night, Mr Brennan attempted to dampen down the Taoiseach's statement, saying Mr Ahern was only referring to the overall system, which would be rolled out over a number of years.

But Mr Ahern's response to questions from Green Party leader Trevor Sargent in the Dáil appeared clear.

"To put a Metro into the city on the scale proposed by the minister and the department would take up an enormous section of the capital programme for the entire State for an inordinate number of years and we must examine whether the project should be phased or whether we can complete part of the project.

"It will be extremely difficult to undertake the entire project. One cannot justify the cost of the entire project over other priorities in the rest of the State. The Government will make a decision on the resources that can be put in shortly," Mr Ahern said.

Yet Mr Brennan insisted the project is still on track, despite the Taoiseach's concerns. "I certainly would like to get started on it. I think it's a possibility provided we can get our sums right," he said.