I thank the Minister of State for being here. I appreciate him and the other Ministers of State present giving of their time this evening. The Minister of State will be well aware of the outrage that met the Minister's announcement regarding the decision to defer the delivery of DART+ South West, a project costed at €1 billion that was set to increase the capacity on rail services running from Hazelhatch and Celbridge, County Kildare, to Dublin from 5,000 to 20,000 passengers at peak times. Essentially, this service was going to change people's lives and the way in which they could interact with their communities and their capital city. Before Christmas, the Minister performed a bit of a U-turn on a project that has been planned for many years. We have not had a justifiable reason as to why that was the case. The latest press release from the Minister suggests that it is something that he would like to do and would like to see come to fruition and that he is not ruling out making a U-turn on his U-turn. I raised this matter in order to try to get on the record what exactly the Government's plan is with regard to DART+ South West. The aspect that frustrates a lot of people in Kildare, where we have seen such significant population growth over the years, is that many Ministers have been at pains to tell us that individuals and community groups taking judicial reviews are the reason why the provision of significant infrastructure projects in this country has been delayed. The project in question has full planning permission. It has gone through the railway order process. Local authorities both in Dublin and Kildare have done their bit to prepare and get this project incorporated into county development plans. A great deal of planning has gone outside of this House to prepare for this project. Yet, the Minister has essentially stated that he would like to see it happen. Representatives from the National Transport Authority, NTA, were before the public accounts committee last Thursday. I asked them about the DART+ West project and when they expect to see passengers being able to use DART+ West. They said it would probably be 2030 before that happens. If we extrapolate that timeline in respect of the DART+ South West project, it is obvious that if construction does not start until 2030, we will not see anybody availing of the service until, potentially ,2034, 2035 or beyond. Everything is in place bar the funding. Do we have a concrete timeline for when the DART+ South West project will progress? Can the Minister, the Minister of State and the Department make it clear that there will be no more changes of heart when it comes to this important project? Planning permissions have been granted on the basis that this infrastructure will be in place. As the Minister of State knows very well, the people of Kildare and Dublin need this service. This is not an optional extra. We need this service to come into place in tandem with DART+ West. I would appreciate an update from the Minister of State. We will see where we can go from there.

Sentiment score: 0.16

I was preparing myself to get back up to criticise the Minister of State for giving me a blank reply but, in fact, what he has done is given me a very detailed reply and I thank him for it. There is a lot that I can take back with me to constituents and to my colleagues, Councillors Peter Melrose and Nuala Killeen, who have been working tirelessly on this for many years. I had not seen confirmation in writing before tonight that the depot for DART+ West will be in the Maynooth-Kilcock area. When we spoke with the NTA last week it did not confirm this. I really welcome that it has been confirmed this evening. What the NTA did speak about was a public consultation that might be aligned with this. Does the Minister of State know anything specifically about this, whereby communities in the area will be asked their opinion on this? I know Irish Rail has done considerable work in going back to the drawing board with regard to the depot. I want to press on the Minister of State the importance of this next matter and I cannot underplay its significance. If a depot comes to Kilcock, can we make sure that a stop in Kilcock is part of it? For years people in Kilcock have been told they will have the depot, the noise and the lights, and they will nearly be able to smell it, but they will not be able to use it. It would make absolute sense, if we are bringing the depot as far as Kilcock, which I welcome and I support the Minister of State and the Government wholeheartedly if we can deliver this, that we can include a station with the depot. It would make massive sense from a future planning perspective. I thank the Minister of State for being here and for giving me such a detailed reply. The only outlying piece is whether there is a timeframe for the public consultation in Kilcock.

Sentiment score: 0.17