Dublin - Metrolink (Swords to Charlemont only)

That's kinda covered by current projects

Can I ask people to remember for a moment what Ireland was like before the 1990s, before complaining about not having the same infrastructure as Denmark, a country that has been well off for over a century.

The Copenhagen S-Train service dates to the 1920s (rail electrification started in 1926 in Denmark), their metro was started in 1992, a time when we were still broke. There's an interesting "what if" if CIÉ had used the newly abundant electricity resource from Ardnacrusha back in the 1930s to start electrification, but it's all hypothetical and off topic.

The truth is, in terms of available budget, we have had just 30 years to achieve a level of infrastructure that it took them 100 to get to: It's not surprising we are "failing", if that's the goal you're setting. Complaining about how slow things are going now is okay (Copenhagen Metro has lots of delays too), but blaming this country for not having had 70 extra years of prosperity isn't going to produce any kind of constructive conversation…

Its not just PT infrastructure though, everything takes longer nowadays. There's delays all along the chain in building. There are many reasons to this from buearacracy to supply chain issues, also Brexit hasn't helped either where materials are taking longer to get here, in the case of suppliers who used to lump Ireland and UK as one distribution hub.

In a time where the pace of life has got faster, the irony is building projects take longer, from planning to completion.

You are sounding like a "Conspiracy Theorist".

SPOILER ALERT: the delays are designed to kill the rail projects off.

We also had a lot more money in real terms back then than we do now.

The late 1990s and 2000s saw a lot of expensive work on the rail network - it's just that the things that cost money aren't always obvious to passengers: one bit of track looks just like another, after all. From the 1990s onward, the whole network was relaid with continously-welded track, for instance. Later, there was more visible new works like the Kildare route project, track improvement and level crossing removals across the whole network, reopening WRC, reopening of Cork local services to Midleton, the complete replacement of passenger rolling stock on national services.

As bad as rail was, it wasn't as far below acceptable standards as our roads were. The roads were a more pressing need, and the road network is much bigger, so it cost more to fix, but rail did have a lot of money spent on it. Most of that went towards clearing a backlog of necessary jobs, but just as we started to get to actual expansion, the money ran out.

https://x.com/sinnfeinireland/status/1803468691222241357

Sinn Féin spokesperson on Transport and Communications, Martin Kenny TD, has welcomed the positive response of daa chief Kenny Jacobs in relation to Sinn Féin’s proposal to establish a rail link between Clongriffin and Dublin airport

lol, you can only laugh at this stage

and soon no greens in government. still though, to cancel at this stage would surely be totally unacceptable by whoever gets into power.

You can read the actual statement by Sinn Fein if you're worried they'd drop Metrolink, because I think it suggests the opposite:

It is my long-held view that passengers, workers, and commuters need a DART service operating from the airport to provide a another form of public transport – along with Metrolink when it arrives

This was something that daa CEO Kenny Jacobs said today would be welcomed by the airport to compliment the services currently on offer via bus, and expected to be offered by Metrolink in the future.

As with the Metrolink, and many other infrastructure before it, the successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments have failed to plan for population and passenger growth. 

I think you’re very naive if you don’t see where this is coming from.

we need to separate big infrastructure from politicians who only seem to think in 5 year stints.

And the facts on the ground are car dependent sprawl in south 'Lucan'. Quickest return for least bucks planning.

I will still be voting Green because I wouldn't trust a SF/FF government on this.

Yes, the politician with the scissors on opening day is the one who takes credit… even if it's just credit for not killing the project.

Being mindful that discussion of the electoral chances of individual parties or groupings is completely off topic here, I'd just say that I can see no statistically likely government in which a majority of members would oppose Metrolink. I think that this project is safe on that front.