The consultants' report examining whether Dublin's Luas light rail system should go underground in the city centre is to be presented to the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, on Friday and will go to the Government next week.
Ms O'Rourke said yesterday she would spend the weekend reading the report by W.S. Atkins, the British consultants appointed last October, with a view to bringing her own recommendation to Cabinet towards the end of next week.
She said the consultants themselves might also be invited to make a presentation on their findings to Ministers, but the final decision on whether to go ahead with CIE's on-street scheme or to go underground would be a Government decision.
The Minister said she had not seen a draft of the W.S. Atkins final report and still had an open mind. She also said she had just reappointed Judge Sean O'Leary to preside over the public inquiry into Luas, which is to reopen next month.
Asked whether the continuing delay was likely to result in a loss of £114 million in EU funding, Ms O'Rourke said the mid-term review of progress on the £227 million project would not now take place until June rather than this month, as was anticipated last autumn.
The EU Regional Policy Commissioner, Ms Monika WulfMathies, confirmed in Dublin yesterday that if the underground option was recommended by W.S. Atkins and accepted by the Government, Luas could not go ahead under the current round of EU funding.
She told The Irish Times it was "getting very late", though there was "still technically enough time" and it was "up to the Government to do something." But any other projects would have to be "properly evaluated and viable" as they could not be renegotiated.
The Commissioner was meeting the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, and the party's spokeswoman on Dublin traffic, Ms Olivia Mitchell TD, who stressed the "necessity and urgency" of providing a proper public transport system attractive to car commuters.
Ms Mitchell said in a statement issued after the meeting: "What I found particularly worrying was the doubt expressed by the Commissioner that any plans for alternatives to Luas could be designed and ready for construction in time to absorb the available funding.
"At the end of the day, the decision on whether Luas should be underground or overground is not one for consultants, but a political decision," Ms Mitchell said, adding that it was a Fianna Fail-led government which had accepted the on-street plan in 1994.
"The Minister's inability to follow through on her own party's decision displays an indecisiveness and lack of commitment to resolving the capital's traffic crisis," she said. "It will be a tragedy for Dublin if this funding [for Luas] is lost or postponed."
Ms Bernie Malone MEP (Labour, Dublin), said she had been informed by Mr Esben Poulsen, head of the Ireland desk in Ms Wulf-Mathies's department, that the European Commission would consider alternative transport projects if submitted in time.
The Government should prepare for all eventualities. "It must be ready to submit coherent proposals tackling Dublin's transport problems if the Commission turns down the underground Luas option - not shopping lists," she added.
Meanwhile, the North Dublin Development Coalition said a north Dublin route "must be included" in the first phase of any new transport system in the capital. This would assist in tackling social deprivation by providing easier access to job opportunities.
