Dublin faces "limitless" problems with traffic congestion and damage to its international reputation if the Government does not sanction a metro system for the city, a confidential new report warns.
Consultants to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport said that a €2.4 billion plan by the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) was the best-value option to solve the transport crisis. Failure to build a metro would leave the city fraught with congestion, they said.
Commuters would become increasingly stressed amid longer periods of congestion and frequent gridlock at key road junctions. Advocating immediate action, the consultants said the RPA had told them that 2½ years of preparatory work would be required if the Government sanctioned the project immediately.
In a draft report, seen by The Irish Times, O'Reilly Consultants said the Government faced a possible reduction in foreign direct investment if a metro was not built. Copies were passed yesterday to members of the committee, which is chaired by the Fianna Fail TD, Mr Eoin Ryan.
The report emerges as the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, prepares to go to the Cabinet for approval for a metro system which would link Dublin Airport with St Stephen's Green in the city centre. The Airport-O'Connell Street stretch would be underground.
In an appendix, the consultants say that Mr Brennan's Department mentioned to them a draft Critical Infrastructure Bill, which contains provisions to allow underground tunnelling seven days a week on a 24-hour basis. The Bill will tighten public consultation periods and allows the State to appropriate a limited section of land under the surface of the Earth. These measures would speed up construction.
However, the Department of Finance is understood to have expressed serious reservations about the funding model favoured by Mr Brennan. The €2.4 billion proposal is based on a plan revised by the RPA after the Government rejected its original €4.8 billion proposal.
Mr Brennan wants a mortgage-like funding arrangement in a public-private partnership, with expenditure spread over 30 years instead of payment upfront. The Department says ongoing commitments during a long period might compromise the ability of future governments to expand the network.
The report said committee members should accept in principle that a public-private partnership would be an effective way forward. Urging members to declare that a "do nothing" option is not acceptable, it said the list of consequences of failing to build a system was almost limitless.