Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
292. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Transport the reason the DART+ Southwest project has not been prioritised within the NDP given the real need and demand for the service across constituencies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3331/26]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, the National Transport Authority (NTA) has responsibility for the planning and development of public transport infrastructure in the Greater Dublin Area (GDA) including, in consultation with Iarnród Éireann, the DART+ programme.
The DART+ programme, which comprises five different projects in and around the GDA, will triple the length of the electrified network from circa 50km to 150km and double city centre capacity from 26,000 passengers per hour per direction to 52,000 during peak hours. This will significantly enhance access to high capacity public transport across the GDA.
DART+ South West will extend DART services from the City Centre to Hazelhatch and Celbridge including four-tracking from Park West to Heuston. A Railway Order was approved for DART+ South West by An Coimisiún Pleanála in November 2024. In addition, procurement for DART+ South West and West is progressing with pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ) notices for Design and Build works advertised in May 2025.
The Government is committed to the delivery of major public transport projects. That commitment is evidenced by last year’s review of the National Development Plan which allocated a total of €24.3 billion in Exchequer funding to transport projects from 2026 to 2030.
Of this total allocation, funding of circa €10 billion for public transport infrastructure is earmarked from 2026 to 2030, in addition to the €2 billion for MetroLink, primarily in line with the Department’s NIFTI intervention hierarchy of Maintain, Optimise, Improve, and New. This approach involves prioritising investment in the protection and renewal of existing assets before investing in new ones, on economic and environmental grounds.
This is an unprecedented level of investment in transport and represents an almost 87% increase as compared to the last five-year period under the previous NDP. However, it also a simple fact that within any funding envelope, no matter how big, there are decisions required in relation to sequencing and prioritisation and those are the decisions that come with the responsibilities of being in Government.
Funding secured under this NDP will see construction start before 2030 on the DART+ programme, beginning with DART+ West, which is the crucial enabler of the rest of the programme and particularly DART+ South-West.
DART+ West must be advanced as it will provide the depot capacity for the new fleet to be used on South-West and also will provide the capacity in the city centre to allow for South-West services to proceed. The CPO processes for South-West will commence this year and aspects of the procurement frameworks put in place for DART+ West will be available for use on South-West when its main construction works commence, which I hope to accelerate through the additional NDP funding made available in 2028 onwards.
Related, my Department will also explore any EU funding which may become available to accelerate public transport projects.
Noting the NTA's responsibility in the matter, I have referred the Deputy's question to the NTA for a more detailed reply. Please contact my private office if you do not receive a reply within 10 days.
