One of the great mistakes of the Government during the Celtic tiger era was the failure to ensure that when new homes were being delivered, adequate infrastructure services and public amenities were provided. This was an issue that affected every county in the State. While today there is no doubt that not enough homes are being delivered and particularly not enough social and affordable homes, unfortunately in many constituencies including my own when new homes are being built the Government is repeating the mistakes of the Celtic tiger period. I represent Dublin Mid-West. We have two very large strategic development zones in Adamstown and Clonburris. As those residential developments are being built out, a number of Government Departments simply are not ensuring the adequate provision of facilities such as school places, doctors, dentists and, particularly, public transport. One of the lessons we thought had been learned, particularly in the context of strategic development zones that have clear, legally binding phasing agreements for the delivery of homes, is that infrastructure, amenities and, crucially, public transport, should be delivered in parallel with the homes. Unfortunately, that is not happening today. Somebody who has recently decided to rent or buy in Adamstown, or in Seven Mills in Clonburris and is looking to get a train into Dublin city or home during peak time simply cannot do so because by the time it reaches Dublin from the commuter belt it will be full and there will not even be standing room. Likewise, BusConnects, an important project for the redesign of bus networks in Dublin, was blind to and continues to play catch up with the strategic development zones. When Eamon Ryan was Minister for Transport, he gave a commitment that the crucial DART+ South West project to electrify the line through my constituency - from Clondalkin, Kishoge and Adamstown to Hazelhatch - would commence in 2025 and be completed in 2030. The Minister of State can imagine the shock of people living in those communities when they heard from the new Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, in November of last year when the detail of the national development plan, NDP, expenditure programme was released that in fact work now will not commence until 2030 and will not necessarily be complete until as late as 2036. It is a very clear breach of what had been committed to by the Government previously. It is a breach, in my opinion, of the legally binding phasing agreements of the strategic development zones in those two locations. Also and crucially, it is simply no good for people who need to get to and from work and young people who need to get to and from school or college daily. Since the news was announced in November I have written repeatedly to the Minister by way of parliamentary questions urging him not just to provide an update but to reverse that decision and ensure that commencement of this vital public transport project starts as a matter of urgency and is completed on time. To give a sense of the scale of this, currently the train line through this portion of my constituency carries about 5,000 passengers per hour. The proposition of DART+ South West is to increase that to 20,000 passengers per hour in both directions so the scale of the need can be seen. I look forward to the Minister of State's response. I also hope he can relay the concerns, not just of myself and my constituents in Dublin Mid-West but of people in Dublin and Kildare as well, that the decision to delay the funding and delivery of this project needs to be reversed and brought back on track, if the Minister of State will excuse the pun, to be delivered on time by 2030.

Sentiment score: 0.11

Virtually nothing that the Minister of State said has not already been communicated to me and other Deputies in the constituency by way of parliamentary questions. It does not address the central question. Right now, people who live in Adamstown, Lucan and Clondalkin desperately need the high-frequency DART service into and out of the city centre to be delivered, as was originally promised, by 2030. Nobody understands why, when the NDP expenditure plan was published in November, no funding was allocated for DART+ South West until after 2030. It makes no sense whatsoever. What the hardworking tax-paying people of Dublin Mid-West and the surrounding areas deserve is for Deputy Darragh O'Brien to honour the commitment that was made to them and to others by his predecessor, Eamon Ryan, and revisit the funding allocation, ensure the funding is provided immediately once the procurement issues are agreed and get the work done. That is what is required. There is no explanation as to why the change and no explanation as to why there is now a potential five-year delay. I note that the Minister of State has given some glimmer of hope at the end that some funding decisions may be reversed. I urge the Minister of State to ensure that he communicate back to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the need for him to make a clear public statement as a matter of urgency that the funding will be released and work will start once procurement is finished in order that the working public, the school and college-going public, and people who want to go in and out of Dublin city centre for leisure or recreation activities will be able to get a DART every 12 minutes from Adamstown, Kishoge and Clondalkin train stations by 2030, which they were promised by the previous Government and should be guaranteed by this Government.

Sentiment score: 0.08