Public transport: The Government could build a metro system in Dublin for a fraction of the costs estimated by some Irish experts, the architect of the Madrid metro has declared.
Urging the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, to fire engineers if necessary, Prof Manuel Maynar Melis rejected the belief that a metro system would be too expensive to build.
Prof Melis oversaw the construction of a 56 km extension to the Madrid metro in 1995 and a further 75 km begun in 1999 which was completed in 2003 after 44 months.
"The important things are not the engineering decisions, but the political decisions. There are no engineering problems. Those problems can be overcome.
"We engineers can do anything. Anything is possible. If one of your engineers says it isn't possible you should fire him and find somebody else," he declared to loud cheers.
The Madrid project was made possible because of the political leadership provided by Mr Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, who is now mayor of the Spanish capital, he said.
The extensions, some of which required tunnelling, were built at a cost of $42 million a kilometre - compared to estimated costs of €92 million a kilometre in Dublin, said Prof Melis.
He said the gap between the Irish and Spanish prices have narrowed on foot of lower estimates by the Rail Procurement Agency. "We are not as far apart as we were."
The Government could build the project for an affordable price if it imposes a small, powerful management team, cuts construction time to a minimum and builds identical metro stations.
However, he warned the Government that it would face major opposition from construction companies, consulting engineers, project managers and others if it tried to impose radical cost cutting.
Prof Melis spoke during a discussion in honour of Dr Maurice Roche, the Tánaiste's adviser, who died in an accident last year.
