COUNCILLORS IN DUBLIN have criticised the government’s push for housing in parts of Dublin where proposed improvements to public transport have not yet taken place.

At tonight’s meeting of Dublin City Council, councillors agreed to rezone 52 hectares of land located at Kylemore and Inchicore for the development of around 5,300 houses in west Dublin.

It comes following pressure by the Taoiseach Micheál Martin on councils including in the capital, who said earlier this year that the government would take steps to rezone land if council bosses fail to do so.

But several members at this evening’s meeting pointed to the government’s decision last week not to fund the planned Dart+ South West upgrade in the National Development Plan (NDP).

It’s proposed the route would stretch out past Kylemore and into Celbridge, Co Kildare along the existing tracks.

The 20 kilometres of electrified rail line will start construction four years later than previously planned after other projects were picked ahead of it in the Government’s latest five-year transport plan.

It’s despite the project receiving planning permission over a year ago and having cleared planning hurdles.

The proposed Dart+ Southwest route. Irish Rail Irish Rail

Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said it was nonsense for the Government to be heaping pressure on the council to bring more land forward for residential development through rezonings, while then pushing out “vitally needed” local public transport infrastructure such as Dart+ South West extension.

Green Party councillor Ray Cunningham pointed to the plans for the development mentioning the Dart upgrade as being a key part of the development.

“Dart+ Southwest has planning permission, it could go to contract tomorrow. We could start working it tomorrow,” Cunningham said.

“Why are we building houses without public transport to go with it?”

His party colleague Michael Pidgeon called it a “pointless delay” as he blamed the government for “nicking” money off public transport projects for roads projects.

“And I can’t be the only one we’ve seen all over Dublin, maybe around the country, I don’t know how bad traffic have gotten in the last few weeks or months,” Pidgeon said, adding that the only way to reduce clogged roads was to invest in public transport.

Department response

A spokesperson at the Department of Transport told The Journal that the logic of the more than €10 billion funding plan in the NDP was to prioritise investment in the “protection and renewal of existing assets before investing in new ones” – citing economic and environmental grounds.

The department isn’t ruling out the works starting earlier than expected and will “continue to explore opportunities for additional funding” – including through funding streams such as via the EU.

This “may allow some projects to proceed to construction earlier” than currently anticipated.

When contacted last week, Irish Rail said it was hoping to progress with procurement for the project so that it could benefit from those additional funding opportunities being examined by the Department of Transport.