We may now be on right track but the delays will have cost us dearly

SEE them strolling along the platforms of Heuston Station with smiles so wide it almost hurts to watch because you’re sure their faces are hurting too. They’re announcing the Metro North project which they themselves binned four years ago.

Or as Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe put it on Tuesday, “It had to be deferred”. As if some power other than the Government had done the deferring. But that’s not what happened. This Government deferred Metro North.

Oh well, you’re saying, they had very little money in 2011 and it was just a delay of four years. But that’s not the case. Even in our darkest days, Metro North did not die. The project stalled during the financial crisis but Metro North was in the four-year plan written by the previous Government and approved by the Troika.