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THE NEW LUAS line will see its first passengers in 2017 – but until then there is much construction to get underway.
We can expect moving statues, road diversions, and changes to the roads in Dublin city centre as the new line (which will connect the green and red lines) is built.
RPA’s Director of Corporate Services, Ger Hannon told TheJournal.ie that is currently 40km of line, and 6km will be added to this. It is anticipated that they will see more than 30million passengers a year thanks to the new line. There is a “huge pent up demand for this connection”, said Hannon.
Hannon explained that the Cross City Luas line will connect “what are at the moment two pretty much separate distinct shopping and business districts”.
In time it will be possible for people to come and shop in the Henry St and Grafton St areas on the same day… or drop into Henry St and have lunch on Dawson St.
Grangegorman
Hannon said that the connection of the new Granegegorman campus on the new line is very important, and there will be in excess of 20,000 students using the service.
The old railway line that ran through Dublin city included a stop at Broadstone and at Harcourt St. The latter line was preserved over the years after being closed down in the 1950s, which made it available for the RPA to use during the green Luas line construction.
A similar scenario will occur with the Broadstone facilities near Constitution Hill.
The new lines will see the spreading of the benefits of the Luas, said Hannon. There are lots of areas that need bit of a lift, he said, adding he hopes such areas will see a rejuvenation, as “once Luas goes into a street, things start to happen, things start shaking up”.
The initial works begin next week (24 June) and will be the cellar works on streets such as Dawson St, Grafton St, and Westmoreland St. This will involve some basement extensions, and cellar investigation works which will involve the digging of a narrow trench down about a metre.
Cameras will be sent down to the basements to see what is inside, before any work is done.
Moving statues
As part of the works in the city centre, a number of statues will have to be moved. The famous Molly Malone statue at the bottom of Grafton St is one prime statue to be moved, and will be gone for two years.
Meanwhile, there are also plans to relocate the Fr Mathew Statue from upper O’Connell St, as when the tram is installed, it will leave no room for the reinstatement of the statue.
Dublin City Council is currently putting together options for Fr Mathew, and has to agree with the city council and a range of stakeholders as to where the best location for him will be.
A report is to be submitted and will follow with discussion from residents, the parks department, the Capuchin orders, and the Pioneer Association, a recent Dublin City Council meeting was told.
Molly Malone will be moved early next year to storage, and on completion of the works she will be reinstated just slightly north of where she currently sits along Grafton St.
The cost of storing the statues is “not a huge figure”, as the contractor will supply a facility for all heritage items.
Traffic diversions
There will be major changes to the traffic route around Dawson St, going up along the south east side of Stephen’s Green, heading towards Shelbourne, on the north side of the green.
Hannon pointed out that much of the traffic on Dawson is through traffic, so this will ease pressure on Dawson St.
The diversions will allow people to turn off St Stephen’s Green into Merrion Row, and go straight up Baggot St. According to Hannon, it will be a “big improvement for people, a more direct route”.
Buses will be able to go along Kildare St towards Trinity College, as they will be able to turn off the green to go down Kildare St, and then will go around Trinity the other way. That will take a lot of the buses out of there, said Hannon.
There will be a “whole rearrangement of traffic to ease pressure on Dawson St”, said Hannon.
Some left and right turns won’t be allowed any more under the diversions. Hannon said that they have taken very careful account of access and delivery requirements, and access to all car parks will be maintained, as well as the ability to make deliveries to premises.
There is also the new bridge being built over the Liffey, which is being managed by DCC and will be used by the Luas and buses.
We will see work on the trackline begin in early 2015, but before the first passengers can hop on board the Luas, the drivers must undergo special training.
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Some stunning numbers right there, well done to Martin Shanahan and everyone at the IDA. What other countries would give to have those results. Great platform for 2016, FDI still coming.
Hold on a minute. It was Richard Bruton and the government not the IDA and there 60 + years of experience. ☺
They’re going to try and take credit anyway.
Other countries wouldn’t be offering the double Irish, or spending a budget of 1 billion a year in creating 18.5k jobs linked mostly to a virtual trade. Again this could all change very quickly. As for the tax issue, all of us are subsidizing substantial tax evasion from companies making plenty. Some of this tax would be welcome in paying for hospitals, flood defenses and education supports like the rest of Irish businesses.
Around four-fifths of corporation tax is paid by foreign-owned MNCs. This year the total corporation tax paid by MNCs will be around €5 billion – 20% more than is collected through the USC.
On top of this US companies in Ireland pay €6 billion in staff costs, buy €4 billion of goods and services from Irish suppliers and spend about €3 billion on their capital infrastructure. Every year.
Martin, Any evidence of tax evasion should be reported to Revenue.
Martin the ‘double Irish’ loophole was closed by the Minister for Finance two years ago.
@Stephen
Technical the double Irish is been replaced, also Ireland still allows MNC companies to write off dividend payments & other inter group transfers against Irish Tax. It’s not for nothing Ireland is often referred to as a tax haven, despite Irish government asserting that their country is not one.
Recently, Ireland made headlines in USA with the latest in a series of “inversion’s” when drug company Pfizer merged with Ireland-based Allergan, with plans to reheadquarter in Ireland ???? Why ????… weather, location, skills LOL… This tax inversion could help Pfizer dodge taxes on as much as $148 billion in profits held internationally, according to a report from Americans for Tax Fairness.
Another giant American-founded company that is incorporated in Ireland is Apple, which has booked over $180 billion in offshore profits through its international subsidiaries, dodging $59.2 billion in U.S. taxes, according to the Citizens for Tax Justice report. They aren’t alone; over a quarter of Fortune 500 companies had subsidiaries in Ireland in 2014, including Google
This can’t last forever more & more countries are not happy with Ireland stealing their dinner. The Irish government should be looking to develop it own homegrown Irish MNC’s we need more Kerry, CRH, Ryanair etc rather than low skill tax compliance based employment. This party is ending soon.
@ TheJeff – Inversions are an issue – but if it wasn’t Ireland – it would be somewhere else (Burger King recently moved to a Canadian domicile). The issue with inversions is more related to the US tax regulation that US companies should pay tax on their global earnings in the US (as opposed to where generated). This tax rate is one of the highest in the western world – about 39%.
Inversions, however, bring no jobs, and aren’t something the IDA have any role in. (so Ireland shouldn’t encourage them).
I’m not sure where you get the “low skill” statement from – if a company wants low skill employees – they go to Vietnam or Bangladesh. Most jobs with Apple/Facebook/Paypal etc are for graduates – and most are well paid.
Just more pre-election facts and figures.
Most jobs with Apple/Facebook/Paypal etc in Ireland are low skill admin jobs & system maintenance employing Grad in jobs where they are not learning much anything new, certainly not picking up new skills ideas. Sheep mostly.. & that before you look at the employment contracts they have mostly 18 month temporary contracts
Yet the nay sayers and idiots will still complain about these “multinationals not paying their taxes” and looking to get them out
But Steve, do you think companies shouldn’t pay tax on profits? Yes jobs are great, but your local small employer running a supermarket or similar will pay a higher percentage tax than Facebook just because they can’t split themselves and pay “fees” to their Bermuda branch to offset tax liabilities. Do you think that’s fair? Or is it cute hoor Ireland where we complain when we hear tax avoidance stories but look the other way when it suits us.
The owner of the supermarket doesn’t have to pay for the use of IP developed by a third party.
John,
you are wrong. small employers can move offshore.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crickhowell-welsh-town-moves-offshore-to-avoid-tax-on-local-business-a6728971.html
The reason they pay a smaller percentage is in fact to attract them in the first place. Isn’t it better to have them here?? Why would Facebook /Google/Apple set up shop on a small island country if there was no benefit to them.
John, you are correct that they should be paying more tax. Better to have all the jobs, skills and spin off benefits that these companies bring in than to see them go elsewhere. Take what we can for the moment and grow our knowledge base. If global tax rates become less of an issue in the future then we can increase the tax. It’s frustrating for other businesses I’m sure but in overall we are still in an envious position.
According to Irish Times article, 1 in 5 private sector jobs employed directly or indirectly by foreign multinationals. Remember, that’s a huge tax take that the Irish Treasury get on their incomes.
@Steven. No point trying to get them out. They’ll get out themselves when a better fix presents itself.
Liked and shared. Amen.
Well done to all involved.
Wonder what the LLA’s policy on increasing employment tax will do to these numbers.
Great news, well done!
Brilliant news this fdi brings fwf to Ireland. Fwf being foreign work force, when these companies leave for eastern Europe or india the country is left with the additional numbers unemployed and due to the meagre taxes paid by these companies irish companies and workers will foot the bill. Like everything in this country it is done for short term gain or more correctly to get relected .
Not in the North East anyway…
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