Madam, - I would like to add the voice of the ordinary commuter to the debate in these pages between Iarnród Éireann and Olivia Mitchell of Fine Gael.
The idea that commuters in Dublin are all destined for An Lár is a redundant concept left over from the 1950s. There are people living and working all over the greater Dublin area, and we need a transport system to reflect this, not Ms Mitchell's vision of disparate rail services which meet at different ends of the city.
It is not that Dublin needs a tunnel between Heuston and Docklands as a means to an end - it's that we need the Dart system extended to run from Kildare to Drogheda and Bray to Maynooth, and we need full integration with Luas and other commuter rail services to get people where they want to go.
Only the interconnector tunnel will achieve this by linking up Dublin's public transport services and providing a high-capacity, high-frequency backbone. The existing Phoenix Park tunnel cannot in isolation provide the connections, journey opportunities or capacity required to fulfil this vision. However we do support plans in addition to the interconnector tunnel to bring long-distance services from Kildare and beyond into the Docklands and north inner city via the Park tunnel.
Ms Mitchell is correct in asserting that there are many other areas of Dublin which also need rail services. However, without a high-capacity Dart backbone, the Luas and Metro proposals will be useless to the majority of people whose destinations are outside the city centre. As taxpayers, we also have concerns over costs, but let's not forget that the original Dart came in 3.3 per cent under budget in real terms, and the €1.3 billion quoted for the interconnector is dwarfed by the €5 billion-plus quoted for the Metro.
I invite Ms Mitchell to travel with us on the Dart, and to experience life commuting on the M50, to understand why it is essential that we make the appropriate investment in a joined-up public transport system. We are tired of excuses and delays from our politicians. For the social and economic well-being of this country we need joined-up thinking applied to public transport, like some of our European neighbours, and we need action now. - Yours, etc,
THOMAS BIBBY,
PRO, Platform 11,
(Rail user lobby group),
Mountpleasant Avenue,
Dublin 6.