Plans for a metro system in Dublin are "very active and alive" and tenders would be sought next year for the first line from Ranelagh to Dublin Airport, the Dβil Public Accounts Committee has been told.
Mr John Henry, director of the Dublin Transportation Office, said yesterday he expected the partly-underground metro line, with a branch to Blanchardstown, would come into service in 2007 or 2008.
He said that the proposed metro, a key element of the DTO's Platform for Change strategy, published in September 2000, was "not a long-term aspiration" and was being "actively pursued" through a public-private partnership process.
However, Mr Niall Callan, secretary-general of the Department of the Environment, told the committee that investment in the DTO's strategy would depend on "realistic negotiations" with the Department of Finance on the Budget.
Earlier, Mr Henry warned that if the sprawl of Dublin continued without check, the city would never develop a public transport system on the lines favoured by the DTO, because it would not have the density to sustain one.
Mr Seβn Ardagh (FF) complained that Dublin was so traffic-choked that it now took 50 minutes to complete a journey of five kilometres, compared to less than 10 minutes in Singapore. He wanted to know why more had not been done.
Mr Henry blamed lack of investment in public transport stretching back 50 years and said that the "big plan" devised by the DTO would give Dublin a public transport system equal to any other city in the world, "if everything is implemented".
He said further measures were needed to exploit the city's existing rail infrastructure, such as lengthening platforms to take eight-car trains, thereby increasing its capacity by 30 per cent, but this depended on the provision of more rolling stock.
Mr Bernard Durkan TD (FG) said it was now "10 long hard years" since he first heard of plans to lengthen platforms on the western suburban line.
The public had "nothing but contempt" for those who tried to "dress up" such failures.
The DTO's director also noted that some 320 kilometres of cycle lanes had been provided throughout the city since 1997, leading to the first increase for years in the number of cyclists; they could now be seen travelling "in platoons" through Ranelagh.
Mr Michael Bell TD (Lab) said that the National Roads Authority would have to be called to account as it had become "virtually a secret society".
But Mr Callan said it was "a creature of the legislature" which was "conscious of its duties of accountability".
