Lowry trapped in light rail dilemma not just of his own making

MICHAEL Lowry is in trouble again. His handling of the Dublin light rail (LUAS) portfolio has allowed Fianna Fail to target him as an out of town culchie. A Minister who cares nothing about the people of Bullymun or Dublin's north side. A man at war with the EU Commission. If Ballymun doesn't get its rail link, then the Minister and his Coalition partners will be to blame. If it does, the consequential loss of a rail fink to Dundrum and Dublin south will damage the Government's vote getting capacity in those areas.

Of course, it was not stated like that in the Dail yesterday. It couldn't be. Because it was Brian Cowen who took the key political decision two years ago. Remember the fuss over EU structural funding in 1994? The shock when Jacques Delors welched on a deal he had with Albert Reynolds? Remember the £1,000 million shortfall in funding for the 1994-1999 National Development Plan?

That shortfall cut EU funding for Dublin's light rail system from an expected £200 million to £113 million. And the three branch system, which was to have served Tallaght, Ballymun and Dundrum, suddenly became two. By October 1994 both Bertie Ahern and Eithne Fitzgerald had made it plain that the Tallaght and Dundrum lines had been selected for phase one, with Ballymun to follow later.

So the "haves", with cars, were favoured over the "have nots" of Ballymun, in spite of fine words in the National Plan. That document stated: "The proposed light rail and quality bus networks will provide better access to job opportunities for areas which currently suffer from high unemployment, extensive social deprivation and low car ownership. They can be expected to contribute substantially to the reintegration of such areas into the mainstream of the commercial life of the city."

Dropping the Ballymun line in favour of Dundrum was just another brick in the wall of discrimination which officialdom has erected around areas of urban deprivation and blight. But, you won't hear a dickie bird about that during the debate. For it would require the parties to say where they stand on the relative merits of Ballymun and Dundrum.

Efforts by the EU Commission to open up public debate on the comparative merits of the two lines have been staunchly resisted. And intensive lobbying by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and by powerful commercial interest to get the Minister to rethink the whole scheme has contributed to the political difficulties.

Last autumn the EU Commissioner for Regional Affairs, Ms Monika Wolf Mathies, requested the holding of comparative socioeconomic studies on all three routes, in the interests of equity and fair play.

And, under pressure, the Minister agreed. By December, however, there was no mention of these studies when Mr Lowry formally announced details of a public consultation process on the Tallaght and Dundrum lines.

Five months passed before news of this EU requirement surfaced. Five months in which Mr Lowry tried to keep the lid on simmering commercial pressure to introduce articulated buses or to build a rail tunnel under the centre city area. For Dublin city traders were having second thoughts. The possibility of traffic chaos and falling profits were deeply disturbing.

The Minister wavered briefly under this commercial pressure last February. But Government support for the original scheme and for the Tallaght and Dundrum lines held.

Giving Ballymun the go ahead would have driven city traders mad. For planners had advised that any attempt to build the Ballymun rail link before work was completed on the Dublin Port Tunnel would cause traffic mayhem in the city. And work on the tunnel is not due to begin until next year at the earliest.

Fianna Fail hangs its attack on the Minister's failure to disclose an EU requirement for "comparative socio economic studies of the various route options". Seamus Brennan got so carried away he called for the resignation of the Minister and was suspended from the Dail.

It was over the top stuff. But it served its purpose. It put political distance between Fianna Fail and past LUAS decisions. And it created a political climate from which Fianna Fail hopes to benefit no matter what decisions are finally taken.

The Minister has questions to answer. Like why he made no reference to the EU studies last November. And why he allowed five months to go by before taking action. Clearly he hoped the EU Commissioner would back down. She didn't, and there is egg all over Mr Lowry's face.

The Minister withheld information. That was wrong. And the opposition parties were quite right in complaining. But a balance of credibility has to be maintained in these matters. There is less to this particular controversy than meets the eye.