THE Minister for Transport, Mr Lowry, has said he welcomes Dr Garret FitzGerald's criticisms of the proposed Luas light rail transit system for Dublin. Mr Lowry said all such contributions would be the subject of discussion at a public inquiry at the end of the year.
Dr FitzGerald has called for an independent, objective review of plans for the Luas light rail system for Dublin. In a series of articles in The Irish Times this week, Dr FitzGerald criticised the current LRT proposals, arguing that the system did not have the necessary capacity and that it would create traffic chaos.
He also rejected the view that placing the LRT underground in the city centre would be too costly. He argued that the estimated figure of £20 million a kilometre for an underground section could be less.
On RTE's News at One, Mr Lowry said he "very much welcomed" Dr FitzGerald's contribution. "This project has been the subject of intense scrutiny and consultation and public debate for something like five years," he said. "We have put in place a public consultation process and we are about to enter, at the end of the year, a public inquiry. All of the contributions, including Dr Garret FitzGerald's contributions, will be the subject of discussion and debate at the public inquiry at that particular forum.
Many of the issues raised had already been addressed by the CIE project team and by the international consultants said Mr Lowry.
Dr FitzGerald said he had not heard Mr Lowry and declined to comment until he had obtained a copy of Mr Lowry's comments.
Fianna Fail's transport spokesman, Mr Seamus Brennan, repeated his party's objections to the LRT proposals as they stood, including the lack of integration with other transport services and the absence of public costings for the possibility of an underground section in the city centre.
Mr Brennan also said the consultation process should be placed on a statutory basis so that the Minister would be forced to consult local communities before the LRT order was made. While he complimented those who were involved in the project team he criticised the brief they had been given by the Minister for the consultation process.
"Their brief from the Minister is wrong," he said. "Their brief is one of explanation and public relations. It's not a proper consultative, process to do it in that way.