TRANSPORT: Dublin's metro system and a number of road schemes which had been ready to go to construction are emerging as the big losers in Government financing.
Following the announcement of the budget estimates on Thursday, transport sources in Dublin said the Minister's ambitious 2005 operational date for phase one of the metro - the link from the city to Dublin Airport - was now "fantasy".
Sources also indicated the original "pre-Brennan" operational date of 2007 was also "out of the question" given the "lack of significant funding in next year's estimates".
It is now extremely unlikely that the €2 billion cost of the airport link can be provided over the next three to five years. Indeed the general economic downturn has cast doubt on funds being available for the longer-term €7.2 billion cost for the entire metro system.
Asked on Thursday if there was any money set aside for the metro, Mr Brennan initially said "no", before being reminded by the secretary-general of the department, Ms Julie O'Neill, that an allocation of €9 million for planning had been included.
The lack of significant funding for the metro will be a disappointment for the Railway Procurement Agency but also for the Dublin Transportation Office, which has had to contend with delays with the Luas system.
The chief executive of the DTO Mr John Henry has described the metro system as "essential for the economic well-being of the city". As recently as last August, his office said "the metro link between Dublin Airport and the city centre can and must be built on time by 2007". The estimates did provide the promised "£100m a year for five years" - in the form of €126.9million - required to develop the Luas lines to Tallaght and Sandyford, but the Minister also noted that the Rail Procurement Agency would also need to borrow €90 million during the year, suggesting that the Government funding is not sufficient. This could have implications for the 2004 estimates and the completion of the Dundrum line when more borrowing may be required. The agency can borrow up to €600 million, but this was generally seen in the context of developing additional lines in partnership with the private sector.
There is little sign of foreseeable expansion of these lines as envisaged in the Taoiseach's transport plan, A Platform for Change.
Due to other, non-funding, difficulties Luas will not be open for business until the first quarter of 2004 - at best - and then on only the Tallaght line. The Sandyford line is scheduled to be about four months behind the Tallaght line, giving a best available start-up date in the third quarter of 2004.
In providing the National Roads Authority with just more than €1 billion, the Minister for Transport acknowledged that it was insufficient to complete the National Development Plan roads programme on time.
The Minister announced 12 major road schemes which will continue throughout 2003 with the available funding, but the National Roads Authority currently has another 22 road schemes through the statutory planning process which are awaiting finance.
Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Michael Egan of the NRA said that of these 22, some four were currently being held up by non-financial matters.
These were the Kinnegad, Kilbeggan Kilcock motorway in the midlands, which the authority hoped to have ready early next year; the Monasterevin bypass, which it also hopes to have ready next year; the Waterford City bypass, which should be ready in six weeks; and the Dundalk western bypass, which is under judicial review.
Good progress has been made on the roads programme in the last three years with route selection for all of the inter-urban roads now complete. Major road improvements which are scheduled for completion next year include the Cloughan to Ballbriggan section of the M1 and the Drogheda bypass; the Youghal bypass in Co Cork; the Glen of the Downs scheme in Co Wicklow; a section of the N18 in Co Clare; the N19 Shannon access route in Co Clare; the N8 Watergrasshill road in Co Cork; and the N5 Strokestown to Longford road.
The situation has been criticised by the Campaign for Sensible Transport, which said it was "time to abandon the grandiose motorway plans and return to the 1998 [plan] ... which concentrated on bypasses for towns and bottlenecks, as opposed to entire new motorways."
