Adam Daly
THE FINGLAS Luas could be delivered before the reported 2027 date, according to a local Fine Gael TD.
Deputy Noel Rock says that when major construction of Metro North is concluding, the Finglas Luas construction will commence.
‘’Final construction works will start when main Metro works near completion,” he said.
“The work of securing land for it and planning the exact route commences in the near future.”
Last week it was widely reported that there will be four new Luas lines delivered after 2027, with extensions to Lucan, Finglas, Poolbeg and Bray.
According to the official plan, construction of these lines is not due to commence until after 2027.
But Deputy Rock believes that Finglas will be the first of the Luas extensions to commence, a detail he claims was missed by most sources.
“I guarantee that it will be the first,” Rock told Northside People.
“Once we start construction of the Luas, the Finglas one will be at the head of the queue.
“If any two lines start at the same time, Finglas will be one of them.
“Regardless, Finglas will be starting first.”
However, local councillor Paul McAuliffe (FF) is sceptical of the Dublin North West TD’s promises and says the official Ireland 2040 plan does not reference construction of the Finglas line.
He believes it will be beyond 2030 before anyone is on a Luas in Finglas.
‘’I think the National Transport Authority have been honest in their documents,” said Cllr McAuliffe.
“They’re saying post 2027 but the Government locally have been disingenuous; they’re saying that Finglas has been selected above the Bray and Lucan line.
‘’I want to be positive about this because it’s about delivering the Luas, but in a vague reference in the plan, it doesn’t even say that it is going to cover the construction of the Luas, just the planning and design. No money that I can see has been announced for the construction of it.”
Deputy Rock says he’ll take his campaign to speed up construction for the Finglas Luas to the next stage but believes its inclusion in the Government’s Project Ireland 2040 plan is a huge victory as it wasn’t mentioned in the draft version.
“The first thing was insuring it was on the plan in the first place,” he said.
“You can't move it up the queue if it’s not in the queue in the first place.
‘’The plan will see work start in 2027, at the very latest.
“I think it's fair to say that in the draft plan there was no inclusion of this line at all. It was actually the campaign that managed to get it back on the agenda.”
Deputy Rock intends to keep his ‘FingLUAS’ campaign going to help speed up construction but in the meantime wants to get the feeder bus from Finglas – the 40L – up and running to connect Finglas to the Luas at Broombridge.