The National Transport Authority has put back the consultation on the revised metro link route on the southside of Dublin. The expectation was that the authority would lower the route on Dunville Avenue to avoid problems at the Beechwood station. The rumour now is that it is thinking of tunnelling a little further south of that station. There are real problems in building the metro, a driverless segregated system, and joining it to the light rail system which is pedestrian-friendly and has completely different characteristics. In trying to combine the two there is a risk that we will have to take out the green line for a year and a half, which would have major consequences for the city.

The question I have is whether the Government would think of asking the NTA to think bigger and look at two or three further options. The first option which I have pushed previously is that we not stop the tunnelling machine but follow the original route the metro was meant to follow towards the south west. There could be stations at Harold's Cross, Terenure, Rathfarnham, Knocklyon, Firhouse and Tallaght, as originally planned. There would be major benefits because that corridor, as the Taoiseach will know, being a former Minister with responsibility for transport, has the worst public transport problems. It is the hardest bus corridor for us to get right. It is the area of the city that would be most affected by the BusConnects project in terms of front gardens being taken out and disruption being caused for people living in that area. It would make real sense to keep the tunnelling machine going towards the south west to service that area and provide proper public transport for once.

Another route has recently come into view. The option involves taking a slightly different direction and not stopping the tunnelling machine but heading slightly to the south east with a stop at Donnybrook and another at UCD. It would transform the college and provide a connection between DCU, Trinity College Dublin and UCD. It would have extraordinary development potential for the city in connecting the three main universities. We would not stop there because there is an obvious line that we could follow on the reservation for the eastern bypass that would bring the metro to Sandyford. In that way, we could provide the high capacity connection needed to Sandyford to cope with further growth on the line.

This is eminently doable, but it needs political direction. The Taoiseach could, if he was thinking big and serious about how we could make this city work, look at one further development - a connecting line between Marlay and Balinteer which would join the two lines. With it we would have a southside circular route that would transform the southside of the city similar to what has been done in Copenhagen. Those responsible started to think about a metro at the same time as we did. In the meantime they have built two metro lines. Next year they will open jsuch a circular line. Therefore, this is doable and we need it because we are not meeting our climate change targets and transport is one of the worst sectors. The city is gridlocked, which is not good for anyone in the country. The right set-up would help the economic system to work to pay the taxes which, in turn, pay for all of the infrastructure.

Dublin is grinding to a halt. It needs a transport Minister and a Government that is willing to think big. Will the Taoiseach ask the National Transport Authority, NTA, to look at those options as part of the review it is doing on the south side part of the MetroLink project?

I am a big supporter of MetroLink, the Dublin metro project, which is essential. It is not the only part of what needs to be done to improve public transport in Dublin. We need to do the DART extension electrification as well. We also need to do BusConnects, and do it right. MetroLink will be a big part of the future of public transport in the city of Dublin. Starting in Swords, it will run through the airport and on to Dublin City University, DCU, the Mater Hospital, through the city centre to Trinity College and on to the south side, via Ranelagh, all the way to Sandyford, Cherrywood and Bray, when it is completed. This is a very big project, the biggest single investment in public transport in the history of the State. It will make a major difference, not just for people who live along the route in Dublin, and will make it easier for everyone to get around Dublin, even people in other parts of the city.

The NTA has carried out a public consultation, and I met its representatives personally as part of that consultation. The point of a public consultation is to listen and I am glad to hear the NTA has listened. It listened to the concerns of Na Fianna GAA club near Glasnevin and is examining alternatives to what was proposed in that respect. It listened in particular to people living in Ranelagh who were concerned about severance and is considering bringing the tunnel further south. It is welcome that it was done in that way and that the NTA put the proposal out to public consultation, that the consultation was real and meaningful and that the NTA listened and is willing to come back with revised plans. The same will happen with BusConnects. It is a very good project that will improve bus times and bus journey times in Dublin but it included many mistakes. It is a good sign that the NTA is willing to listen, make modifications and hear what people have to say, particularly regarding the Na Fianna club and Ranelagh.

I discussed with the NTA the possibility of alternative routing options for the metro, or what used to be called metro south. What it says to me, and as somebody who spends a lot of time in Ranelagh and along the proposed line, I think it is right-----

What does the Taoiseach do there?

-----is that the Luas south line would have to be upgraded anyway. There is a limited capacity on the Luas. Even now, it is impossible to board at the Beechwood and Ranelagh stops. There will be massive additional development in Sandyford and also with the new town of Cherrywood. As it stands, the current Luas is already close to capacity and it needs to be upgraded to metro. The proposal to go from Swords to Sandyford and on to Cherrywood and Bray makes sense. That is not to say there could not be other metro lines in the future, including perhaps some of those the Deputy mentioned, but anyone who is familiar with the Luas line south, Sandyford, Stillorgan and Ranelagh knows that the line is already at capacity and needs to be upgraded to metro.

The Taoiseach should listen to me because I know those lines intimately. There is a solution that avoids problems and would save us the cost of stopping services on the green line for a year and a half to upgrade it. The solution is to keep the tunnelling machine going. It is very cheap to do so because the cost arises in getting the machine into the ground. Once it is in operation, we should keep it running to University College Dublin and from there to Sandyford. I would not stop there but go all the way around the south side.

That might be the solution to the broadband problem.

For those from the country who might ask why we should do this, I will set out a way to pay for it.

Will the Deputy give us a bit?

We should stop all the road expansion on the approach roads to Dublin. These are the only projects that are going ahead and they will make the problem of gridlock in Dublin worse. We should use that money to provide a high-quality public transport solution which tackles the Sandyford issue and gives us the capacity we need. It would also bring UCD together with Trinity College and DCU and transform the UCD campus and the city. It would also offer the prospect of heading west. We should start creating a capital ideas Dublin where we are not stuck in cars and where we have the same quality public transport system as Copenhagen, Berlin, Athens and every other city. Why should we not think big about public transport in Dublin? Will the Taoiseach ask the NTA to look at the option of running the metro to UCD and Sandyford as a way of addressing that issue and giving us the option of a proper public transport system for this city?

It is all Dublin.

When it comes to metro, Luas and BusConnects, the way it works is that there is a public consultation process. The NTA goes out with a design and anyone can make a submission. I have given it my views and I imagine the Deputy has done the same.

It is not for me to ask them on the Deputy's behalf. He can make a submission himself and the National Transport Authority will come back with its revised plans on metro in due course.

It is not true to say that tunnelling is cheap once the machine is put in the ground. It is actually very expensive, and the underground stations are very expensive too. It is not just a case of Thomas the Tank Engine going underground and tunnelling along. We have to build station boxes and do many different things.

What about the Fat Controller?

It costs €100 million every couple of miles. Cost is something we have to bear in mind. One thing I will not do is agree to the Green Party's proposal to divert money from transport projects in the rest of Ireland to Dublin.

I did not say that.

As somebody who is from Dublin but is a Taoiseach for all of Ireland, I will not be diverting transport funding from the rest of Ireland to Dublin-----

That is because there is nothing left in the country to transfer.

-----because Virginia needs a bypass, Adare needs a bypass, we need to upgrade the motorways through Kildare, we need a ring road for Galway and we need to get Dunkettle started. I do not agree with the Green Party when its members say we should take transport funding away from the rest of Ireland and put it all into Dublin.

The Taoiseach has nothing left to take away.

Just the north west.

Castlebaldwin and Collooney have already been started.