Government expects to pay €109m before MetroLink build even begins

The Markievicz apartments and sports and leisure centre on Luke Street, Dublin. They are the subject of an eviction order to make way for the MetroLink.

The Government expects to pay up to €109m in additional expenditure before Dublin’s MetroLink project even begins construction.

The enormous €3bn infrastructure project, which has cost nearly €250m to date, will, if completed, connect Dublin Airport with the southside of the city via a light rail link.

At present, Metrolink must receive approval for its railway order application — the equivalent of planning permission for a rail line — before construction can begin. That order, which was initially due to have been finalised in 2021, is due to be lodged later this year, assuming the Government first approves MetroLink’s preliminary business case.

The National Transport Authority, in an update on the project sent to the Public Accounts Committee, said its immediate future involves a number of workstreams, including the drafting of “the documentation associated with the application for a railway order” and the “development of all procurement documentation”.

That documentation is set to include tender designs, works information, specifications, and contracts specific to all of MetroLink’s work packages, the NTA said.

“The additional spend up to the start of construction work may range between €85m to €109m, depending on the progression of the railway order approval process and the issue of legal challenges,” it said, though no further breakdown of that expenditure was offered.

Last month, it emerged that MetroLink was unlikely to be in use before 2035 in a best-case scenario, with Peter Walsh, head of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), which has primary responsibility for the project, acknowledging that date does not take into account any possible judicial review applications in terms of An Bord Pleanála’s planning decision, and that the timelines for such reviews cannot be estimated.

The NTA, in its briefing note, echoed that sentiment, saying achieving an enforceable railway order was dependent both on legal challenges and “the outcome of the statutory process”.

“Both of these items are outside the control of the NTA and TII,” the authority said.

Compulsory purchase

It said should the railway order be acquired by the end of next year, thus allowing a pathway for construction to begin, the next “key activity” would be the acquisition of properties via compulsory purchase order.

“An early start is required to achieve vacant possession of the sites required for the works,” the note said.

In that scenario, initial construction works could conceivably commence prior to the end of 2024, the authority said. However, that is dependent upon the planning process completing before the end of next year, it said.

Mr Walsh previously admitted the initial completion timeline set for MetroLink in 2017 of 2027 had been “probably optimistic”. He denied, however, that inadequate resourcing was responsible for the delay of the project.

As of last October, a total of €235.9m had been spent on a number of iterations of what is currently MetroLink, with none of the projects ever actually reaching fruition.

Of that figure, at least €70.9m relates to expenditure for which no value has been returned, according to internal NTA documents.

Some €165.6m was spent on the initial Metro North connection with Dublin Airport up to 2015, and a further €70.3m on MetroLink since March of 2018.

At that time, just €67.1m of the money spent on Metro North “could be considered as lasting value expenditure” in that it is still required for MetroLink, those documents stated.