Leeside Luas cannot end up as ‘pie in the sky’, warns candidate

A LOCAL election candidate in Cork has said the proposed Cork Luas project cannot be permitted to become “a pie in the sky report that sits on the shelf of a Government department”.

Labour Party candidate in the city’s South East ward, Peter Horgan, made his comments after it was revealed earlier this week that the National Transport Authority (NTA) is currently only funded to bring the proposed project to emerging preferred route (EPR) stage.

“It’s a failure of confidence in Cork by the Green [Party] minister for transport [Eamon Ryan] that he has only funded the Cork Luas to the emerged preferred route stage, which we have yet to even see in detail,” Mr Horgan said.

“If there was confidence in this project at Government level, monies would be ringfenced to allow it at the very least proceed to planning stage.

“We cannot allow this project to be a pie in the sky report that sits on the shelf of a Government department.

“We need a light rail, one that connects to our transport hubs in Kent, Parnell Place, and the airport.

“The alternative is more congestion and gridlock, and I will be asking Labour transport spokesperson Duncan Smith TD to clarify the funding arrangement with the minister.

“We could have avoided this being an election issue, but the Government’s progress on this and clear funding restrictions have moved the goalposts.”

Speaking at Cork Chamber’s Business Breakfast event on Wednesday, the CEO of the NTA, Anne Graham, said that Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) — funded by and in collaboration with the NTA — is currently undertaking a “detailed alignment study” to determine the optimum layout for the rail system connecting Ballincollig in the west to Mahon Point in the east via the city centre.

“That work is nearing completion, and it is expected that an emerging preferred option for Luas Cork will be published for public consultation this year,” she said.

Ms Graham said the authority currently does not have the funding to progress the project beyond that stage.

“We don’t have the funding to bring it to more detailed design, to bring it to planning at this stage,” she said.

“Our strategy [the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy] sets it out as being delivered later in the strategy, so being a post-2030 delivery.

“That’s as much as we could say on the timeline at this stage.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport told The Echo that “final decisions on funding for large infrastructure projects, such as Cork light rail, are made as the project progresses through the planning and approval process to ensure value for money”.