Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

So am I right in thinking a private company (Turner & Townsend) has been put in charge of public money in delivering metro link?

“Two weeks ago, a group of consultants led by Dublin-based Turner & Townsend was appointed to oversee the delivery of Ireland’s first metro railway”

Do we not have state employed Project managers for this project?

What exactly do TII do?

Better paid and highly motivated to make money for their employer which means extras over the BOQ’s agreed with the project manager- who in this case will also be private based!!! The state will get crucified for this!!

As everything is taking forever it doesn't matter who does what, because nothing practical is being done. Appointing so-and-so or such-and-such to do imaginary things is 'Look! The boss is coming! Let's look busy!'

Except there is no boss.

C'mon, you know that's not true about the motorway network. The main motorways were mostly built from 1998 to 2008, when we were rolling in money. When that money dried up, everything that wasn't already under contract was canned immediately. So, while a couple of roads might have still been under construction during those bad times, it wasn't by choice.

Our current problems stem from that period. Post 2009, our national debt skyrocketed. Popular wisdom would say it was the bank bailouts, but that was only a quarter of the increase - the real killer was borrowing to keep the government running day-to-day. Back in 2000, we had a tiny national debt, so any money we received in taxes could be spent; now we have to service a huge loan first.

In the entire decade of the 1980s, we built just 12.5 km of motorway (the first phase of N7 Naas, and the M1 Santry bypass), funded from the Exchequer.

The kick-start to motorway construction was the creation of the European Cohesion Fund, which was formalised in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, but had been unofficially open for applications from member states for a year or two prior to that. With up to 85% funding available, the Government suddenly found itself with huge buying power - and at this point Ireland was still one of the poorest member-states, so we got a disproportionate share of those funds. The Single Market (also 1992) made it far easier for European construction companies to come to Ireland and do works, but our low labour costs also make those millions go pretty far.

By the time the ECF money was running out in the early 2000s, we were swimming in Stamp Duty revenues as the first stages of the property boom came, so the next round of projects, planned for 2007 onwards, got bigger, and it's this period, when the motorway (HQDC, later redesignated as motorway) building programme really ramped up.

This is also when the Metro as we know it now was first proposed, incidentally, complete with plans to "upgrade" the southern leg of Luas Green Line before it even went into service - apparently we were too rich now, and trams wouldn't do anymore.. Other great schemes from that era were the underground Luas Red/Green link (remember that?) put forward by the PDs (remember them?) that eventually was built overground because we're not insane; and, of course Dart Underground.

We were not broke, it was Celtic Tiger Mk.1 and EU grants which paid for that.

Original proposal was the Ballymun and Airport proposal in the Dublin Rail Rapid Transit Study, which became DART. So we're talking forty-five years and counting. There have been a lot of cynics, vested interests and wannabe monetarists chucking roadblocks in front of that project since then.

Im now being told Oral hearing date for metrolink won't be announced until after DART+ West has concluded its oral hearing. It seems the later may end up dragging on a bit, hopes of a December date are fading, more likely metrolink will face oral hearing in the new year.

Sounds promising but I'm remaining skeptical. Ibec has reduced its economic outlook and SF have stated that they'll abolish carbon tax and replace with a private jet tax, such financial illiteracy would be the end for metrolink unfortunately.

The degree of financial illiteracy that leads one to believe that carbon tax revenue can be replaced by a private jet tax is what could kill ML.