Madam, – Surely it is now time to call a halt to the absurdity which is Metro North? The country is in severe debt, our interest payments are crippling, and we have mortgaged our children’s future. And now we propose to build a very expensive metro, estimated at a cost of €5 billion or so, which will no doubt escalate to €15 billion or so.
If an individual went to his bank manager and it was apparent that he was spending too much, the bank manager would – rightly – tell him to stop spending so much.
But if a country is spending too much, the solution is to spend more!
Perhaps the country is talking to the same bank managers who got us into this mess in the first place. The argument would seem to be that this new metro would give great employment, satisfy a need and provide more jobs in the future because the now inaccessible areas of the northside would be easily reachable.
If this argument were to be pushed further, why not build a tunnel from Ireland to Britain? This would be of great benefit to everyone – cutting out the problems associated with flying or using the ferry. It would open up the British market and provide easy access for our troubled manufacturing industry. It would certainly give great employment. In fact, we could start it in Mullingar if we really wanted value! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I wish to correct Dennis Jennings’s (October 6th) statements opposing Metro North.
Metro North is compatible with Luas as it uses similar trams, the only difference being that Metro North is fully separated from traffic and its trams will be longer.
Metro North interconnects with major transport hubs, including Dublin Airport, the future Metro West, the Mullingar-Sligo line at Drumcondra, the Luas Green Line at Stephen’s Green, and Luas Red Line at O’Connell Street which itself interconnects with Cork-Limerick line at Heuston Station, Bus Áras, and the Belfast-Rosslare line at Connolly Station.
Metro North is in the right place as it connects the city centre with the Mater, Croke Park, Dublin City University, Dublin Airport and Swords, a growing city of 40,000 people, with a possible future extension to Donabate.
Who says Metro North will cost €5 billion? Who came up with that number? Contrary to uninformed popular opinion cancelling Metro North won’t save €5 billion. Metro North might cost only half that thanks to the fall in construction costs because of the recession. This makes the cost-benefit analysis even more attractive at a ratio of 2:1.
Most of Metro North will be funded by a public private partnership, repaid over a 30-year period, the first repayment occurring only when Metro North is operational, which won’t be for another five years.
During the construction phase, over 5,000 direct construction and thousands more indirect jobs will be created. On completion Metro North will create over 35,000 jobs in Dublin north city and county. All of which reduces the State’s welfare expenditure and contributes vital tax revenue to our country’s depleted finances.
No wonder Deputy Joan Burton of Labour said in April 2009, “Proceeding with Metro North as soon as possible really is a ‘no-brainer’.” – Yours, etc,