The director general of the employers' organisation, IBEC, has called for the proposed light rail system for Dublin to be put underground in the city centre, saying this is in the long-term interest of the city.
Mr John Dunne said yesterday that an overground system would bring "disruption while being built, terrible traffic chaos when it was completed and very little benefit". His position remained the same as that he expressed several months ago, when he called for the trains to run underground.
"Unless the consultants' report contains some persuasive technical arguments why it should not be done, my position remains the same." While IBEC had not adopted a position on the subject, he said, most of the organisation's officers agreed with this view.
"We should be looking at what is the best option for hundreds of years from now, not just the next 10 to 15 years," he said.
He disagreed with the view that an on-street system would cause such traffic restrictions in the city that it would force commuters to leave their cars at home and use public transport. "In an age when the motor car is as pre-eminent as it is, I find it hard to believe that people will dump their cars. The projected take-up of passengers is so small it will just cause another bottleneck."