FF want to throw MetroLink off track – Farrell

Fianna Fáil want to throw the vitally important MetroLink off track, Fine Gael’s Alan Farrell has said.

Deputy Farrell, a Fine Gael General Election candidate in Dublin Fingal, said: “The delivery of Metro is vitally important for the North County, particularly Swords and its surrounding areas.

“For too long, we have been without a rail link between the city centre, the airport and the growing community of Swords.

“Residents have too often been sold false promises. Now we are making progress.

“It is wholly irresponsible of Fianna Fáil representatives to propose delaying this until 2022, and then beginning to redesign the project from scratch.”

Deputy Farrell continued: “Only last week, MetroLink ground investigations, including the drilling of boreholes and associated support works were taking place in Swords.

“Now, it seems Fianna Fáil are considering throwing the project completely off-track.

“If this is the case, and Fianna Fáil are going to delay the delivery of MetroLink between Swords, the Airport and the city centre by a number of years, then they must realise they will be doing a disservice to the people of Swords and North County Dublin.

“They must also realise that they will be willingly wasting the taxpayers money which was spent getting the MetroLink project to this stage, where it is on course to be delivered and operational in 2027.

“In Dublin, and in the North County we need sustainable public transport infrastructure as a matter of priority, both in terms of catering for our growing communities, and providing better public transport options to take vehicles off our roads, and reduce emissions resulting from high-levels of private traffic.

“Without the delivery of MetroLink, the northside of Dublin will grind to a halt as a result of traffic congestion.

“This is simply unacceptable.”