The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, said he intends to proceed with plans for a new underground metro link between Dublin Airport and the city centre, and that he has now ruled out an alternative proposal for a small link between the airport and the existing DART line.
Speaking in Dublin yesterday he said the route for the proposed metro had now been finalised, but it would not be serving either of the two main train stations in the capital.
He told The Irish Times he intended to bring the plans to the Cabinet before the summer break, and that the underground line could be operationing by the end of 2009.
An underground metro system was first mooted four years ago for the capital by the then minister for public enterprise, Ms Mary O'Rourke.
However, the plans were effectively stalled two years ago after it emerged the costs of the first stage, a line between Dublin Airport and the city centre, could exceed 4 billion.
Mr Brennan said the latest revised figures he has received indicate the total cost of the link, including land costs and risk contingent, will be €2.4 billion, he told The Irish Times.
Mr Brennan said he had also examined an alternative to the metro, proposed by Iarnród Éireann, which would involve the construction of a rail spur off the Belfast-Dublin train line to the airport, along with an underground inter-connector tunnel between Heuston and Connolly stations.
"At this stage I am not attracted to the CIÉ alternative," he said. "The inter-connector alone would cost €1.5 billion. As it stands, Heuston and Connolly are being linked by Luas I also have concerns about its ability to meet the capacity that is needed."
He said he was now finalising the detailed plans for the metro, which he intended bringing before the Government "in the next few months, definitely before the summer break."
Mr Brennan said the final route of the proposed metro does not include Connolly Station, as he had originally hoped.
"I asked the Rail Procurement Agency and the Dublin Transportation Office to look at this, but both have advised against this. It would add an extra seven minutes onto the journey between Dublin Airport and St Stephen's Green. If we had included Connolly on the route, we would have had to omit O'Connell Street as a stop."
The proposed route starts at Dublin Airport, continue overground through Ballymun, before going underground at Glasnevin, through Phibsboro, O'Connell Street. It will terminate at the top of Grafton Street.
The underground Tara Street stop would link with the DART station. "It effectively links up with Connolly Station, which is just one stop on that line," Mr Brennan said.
The Department has received 20 expressions of interest in building and operating the new metro, he said. The expected cost to the Government under this method of construction would be an annual payment of €250 million for 20 years. It is understood there is still opposition to the metro within the Department of Finance, which is concerned about the potential of spiralling costs, as has been the case in relation to the construction of Luas.