The National Transport Authority announced the greater Dublin transport strategy yesterday. It represents a huge blow to the people of the greater Dublin area and what appears to be an abandonment of our emissions targets in the transport area, as set out in the climate action plan. It was particularly devastating for the north side of Dublin because of the further long fingering of MetroLink. I represent Dublin north west, which is the only constituency in the greater Dublin area without any rail service at all. We are entirely dependent on a bus service, which is not capable of meeting the demand from commuters. Large numbers of people have no choice but to get into their cars and drive. Dublin north west is sandwiched between the city centre and Fingal, an area which has seen its population grow by 41% in a 20-year period and it is continuing to grow.

Many residents in Fingal, too, have no choice but to get into their cars to drive because of the inadequate capacity in the public transport system. On top of all of that is the airport, where passenger numbers reached 33 million in 2019. We are the only European capital without a rail link to our airport. All of that adds up to a situation where there is near gridlock for most of the day on most main roads on the northside of Dublin. There is seldom a morning when the Swords Road at Whitehall is not referenced in the traffic reports.

In the 1990s, we were promised a northside Luas line. It never materialised. The metro was first announced in 2001. The Taoiseach’s late colleague, Séamus Brennan, told us that the metro would be open in 2007. We are now on our third iteration of the metro. There have been several rounds of detailed consultation with residents on the northside of Dublin. Hundreds of meetings have been held. Thousands of leaflets have been distributed. Hundreds of millions of euro have been spent on planning and design work. Yesterday the bombshell was dropped that it will be more than ten years, and possibly up to 20 years, before there is any prospect of the metro opening. Yet again, and for the third time, people are being marched to the top of the hill. It is beyond belief that it was a Green Party Minister for Transport who flagged the fact that this project, and indeed DART+, would not go ahead. I ask the Taoiseach what he is saying to the people of the northside of Dublin now?

The Deputy's time is up.

Have they to put up with gridlock for the next ten years? Second, what does the Taoiseach intend to do about our emissions targets, which are not capable of being met in the absence of these projects?

We are way over time.

First, the wrong impression is being put entirely on the National Transport Authority, NTA, report on the transport strategy for the greater Dublin area. I will first deal with the issue of emissions. The strategy was published yesterday and it is a statutory requirement to review the strategy it had published in 2016. Under that strategy, greenhouse gases linked to public transport will fall dramatically, contrary to what the Deputy said. The implementation of the full measures will reduce transport emissions in the greater Dublin area by 69%. That will come about because of further investment in DART and Luas, which are already fully electric. This is also as a result of the complete transition away from fossil fuels for buses within 13 years. I would like to do that faster. I am maintaining the pressure on that. Acceleration of investment into walking and cycling infrastructure will also deliver substantial greenhouse gas reductions. The delivery of existing projects under the current strategy, as well as newly proposed projects, will significantly expand the availability of alternative options to private car journeys. Newly proposed plans include a provision of a new rail line to Navan and extending the DART+ programme to deliver electrified rail services to Sallins, Naas, Kilcock, and Wicklow.

The Deputy has made fair points about the northside, the airport and the rail link. I accept her analysis of gridlock and the unacceptable situation for residents and commuters from the northside. However, the NDP provides the funding to commence delivery of the major public transport projects under the greater Dublin area transport strategy, which include BusConnects, DART+ and MetroLink. The Deputy is correct in saying that enormous work has gone into finalising the preliminary design of MetroLink, completing the required environmental impact assessment reports and closing out property referencing issues. That is all critical work to MetroLink. The Deputy outlined some of it herself when speaking about the consultations. The focus right now is getting all three projects, namely, BusConnects, DART+ and MetroLink to the Government for approval under the public spending code. As well as this, the focus at a project level is on getting planning application documentation ready for submission to An Bord Pleanála in early 2022.

This idea that is being spun that somehow, MetroLink has been shelved for ten years is just not the truth. It will be going to planning in early 2022. It has to go through public spending codes and various approvals. I do not think anybody here would expect otherwise. The fact that the national development plan, NDP, is a ten-year envelope and has a ten-year framework is the ultimate guarantor that we will get MetroLink built. That is our determination as a Government. Far from shelving anything, therefore, work is proceeding at pace to get MetroLink going, as well as all of the necessary decisions that have to be taken to get it ready for planning.

I think that the Taoiseach is misrepresenting what was announced yesterday.

No, I am not. I am genuinely not.

We have been told that DART+ will not happen and cannot happen until the 2040s, post 2042. In spite of the fact that MetroLink has been promised for more than 20 years, and that we have been promised a rail link for more than 30 years, nothing will happen in relation to the opening of the metro until at least post 2031. That is in another ten years. I ask the Taoiseach what is he saying to the people of the northside of Dublin about the gridlock that they now encounter in trying to go about their daily business? What will happen to improve that situation over the next ten years? Are there any grounds for hope that anything will change on the northside of Dublin in the next ten years?

First, BusConnects is a huge priority. There have been comprehensive and extensive consultations with communities about BusConnects. The investment has been put into the NDP to make that happen. Likewise, with MetroLink, that is going to happen. I understand all of the frustrations and I accept the point-----

Not for more than ten years.

No, the documentation-----

It will be more than ten years before it opens.

I have spoken to the Minster for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan about this-----

Please Deputy, do not interrupt.

Did the Taoiseach read the plan?

The Government has provided funding. This will go to planning in early 2022. The three decisions on BusConnects, DART+ and MetroLink will come to Cabinet shortly, before Christmas and early in the new year-----

At best it will open at phase 2. It is phase 2 for opening.

The bottom line is that there are planning processes we have to get through. We have to get through them.

It is Government decisions and funding that are required.

No one in here can determine the length of time that will be involved in getting over those timeframes, challenges and so on that inevitably happen with projects as large as this. What has been provided is the funding to underpin the project in the national development plan. The Minister is determined to progress these three key elements of the transport strategy for the greater Dublin area.

I thank the Taoiseach and his time is up.

It will not be finished within the national development plan timeframe. It is all ten-plus years away.

Please, Deputy. We move to Deputy Carol Nolan.