MetroLink project: Cost of buying Dartmouth Square houses will be ‘carefully managed’
The cost of buying houses in Ranelagh to end a legal challenge to the multibillion-euro MetroLink rail project will be “carefully managed”, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien has said.On Tuesday, it emerged that Dartmouth Square residents who took judicial review proceedings against the transport project are to accept an offer from Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to buy their homes.The move, which will end the proceedings, is expected to facilitate the early development of the rail line. The project, set to be the largest infrastructure project in the State, was facing years of delay if the court action went ahead.An Coimisiún Pleanála had in October approved TII’s application to build the line from Swords, in north Dublin, to Charlemont, close to Ranelagh in south Dublin. The route would have 16 stops serving areas including Dublin Airport, Ballymun, Glasnevin, Phibsborough and the city centre.READ MORESeparated family Christmas: ‘Choosing between my mum or dad. It always felt like I was going to disappoint one’TII to buy Dartmouth Square objectors’ houses as challenge to MetroLink is droppedDAA suspends chief executive Kenny Jacobs pending new investigation ‘You’re never going to keep everybody happy’, says NTA’s head of public transportExplainerWhat is the MetroLink?MetroLink is a 19km mostly underground rail line for Dublin stretching from Swords to Ranelagh.Stops include Swords, Dublin Airport, Ballymun, Glasnevin, O’Connell Street, St Stephen’s Green and ending at the Charlemont Luas stop.The project was first proposed over a quarter of a century ago and is expected to cost north of €10 billion.A trip from the city centre to the airport will take 20 minutes and the service is expected to be operational by the mid-2030s.A computer generated image of a MetroLink service The houses at Dartmouth Square West back on to the Charlemont terminus of the line. Some of the residents in these houses had sought an order quashing the planning permission, but the proposal to purchase the homes arose during mediation talks this week.The houses on Dartmouth Square are substantial protected structures and, although they do not often come to the market, one sold for €2.7 million last month.It is not known how much TII has offered for the houses, and whether their offer includes a small number of homes on Dartmouth Square West not occupied by those who took the legal case.Speaking on RTÉ Radio on Wednesday morning, Mr O’Brien said about 10 houses will be purchased through these mediation talks.He said he couldn’t speculate on how much the homes would cost, but said the cost “will be managed and will be managed carefully”.Mr O’Brien said the project can now move on to the next stage, with tendering expected to take place next year.“With a fair wind and everything being in, we could start enabling works in 2027 and start building in 2027, towards the end of it,” he said.“I think it’s about a seven- to eight-year build, so if we start in 2027, early ’28, you’ve seven, eight years from there.”He has asked MetroLink to consider opening the line in phases and that this is being “looked at”, he said.He said it is “too early” to say at this stage ahead of procurement how much the project will cost. The last preliminary business case was between €7.16 billion and €12.25 billion, he said, adding “I would imagine it to be higher than that”.“I’m going to get the next assessment of projected investment early in the new year, I’m not going to speculate,” Mr O’Brien said.
