Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey’s assertion that the €multi billion Metro North project would be a priority revealed that the revised National Development Plan would again favour the greater Dublin area at the expense of the rest of the country.

This was stated by Independent MEP Marian Harkin who challenged the Minister to provide justification for the Metro which she said would destroy Dublin’s economy at a time when it was enduring serious difficulty while no proof of its cost effectiveness had been produced.

Marian Harkin MEP said:- In the National Development Plan 2000-2007, significant preference was given to the greater Dublin area with all motorways having Dublin as their focus.  At a time when vitally needed roads projects such as the N4 by-pass of Longford, the N17 Sligo to Galway and N16 cross border route have been long fingered, it would be blatantly discriminatory to utilise scarce resources for a metro project which will not compare in cost benefit terms with a myriad of better quality projects.

“To describe those who challenge the justification of a metro which could cost anything from €4 billion to €8 billion as ignorant, is not just insulting but is laughable in view of the uncontrolled spending on the roads programme which overran budget by €7 billion in the last National Development Plan.

“The failure of the Government to deliver on the core pledge of the National Development Plan to deliver balanced regional development, derived from decisions which favoured the greater Dublin area.  This is shown in the GDP figures which indicate a widening gap between the BMW and South and East regions and it is totally unacceptable that Minister Dempsey seems unconcerned that this gap will widen further into the future”, Marian Harkin MEP concluded.