The cost of installing an underground metro system for Dublin cannot be justified over other State priorities, according to the Taoiseach.
Mr Ahern told the Dáil that to put a metro into the city on the scale proposed by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, "would certainly take up an enormous section of the capital programme for the entire State for an inordinate number of years and we must examine whether the project should be phased or whether we can do part of the project."
Speaking on the day the Luas tram officially started on the Sandyford line, he told Green Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent: "My own feeling is that it will be extremely difficult to undertake the entire project."
Mr Sargent had asked the Taoiseach: "When will the Government make a decision on the metro, given that it has been promised so often?"
The Green Party leader said Mr Brennan, in a series of responses since May 2003, had repeatedly said the proposals would be brought forward "shortly", "in the coming weeks", and "next month".
Mr Ahern said the Government would make a decision "shortly" on what resources could be put into the project.
Mr Eamon Ryan (Green, Dublin South) said the Taoiseach had been saying that for the past year.
Mr Ahern said, however, that "the issue of a final decision on this will be based on whether the capital programme can be sustained for a number of years on such a huge project."
Mr Sargent said the Taoiseach referred to a cost problem, "yet no cost-benefit analysis has been conducted on the roads programme. The NRA roads needs study was rejected by the Taoiseach and he has decided to build 800 km of motorway."
Mr Ahern told the Dáil the Railway Procurement Agency had produced many proposals for a metro or the completion of the Luas or a light-rail system. "The difficulty is the cost of these projects has been astronomical and the cost is way out of line with what is considered reasonable for the taxpayer to bear."
