€30m price tag: State offers to buy houses from Dublin residents for MetroLink

Eva Osborne

The State is offering to buy around 10 houses from Dublin residents who lodged a judicial review application into the MetroLink.

The homeowners in Ranelagh have withdrawn the application, following a mediation process.

Minister for Transport, Darragh O'Brien, welcomed the news as an "early Christmas present" and reiterated his plans to start construction on the project as soon as possible.

Acting Political Editor of the Irish Examiner, Paul Hosford, said it is now up to the homeowners to accept the State's offer.

Speaking on Newstalk, he said: "These residents in Dartmouth were worried about the terminus at Charlemont which their houses will back on to.

"The State has offered to buy the homes from them if they want. It's really up to the residents. We understand over the next couple of years we'll see where they're at on that.

"It will probably, if you do it on a case by case basis, if you look at the amount that homes sell for in Dartmouth, you're probably talking somewhere between €25 million and €30 million for the homes.

"But in the context of a €13.5 billion critical infrastucture project, it's probably the cleanest way of doing things."

Hosford said the mediation was "probably always going to end in an agreement" before March's judicial review.

"Thankfully for everyone in Dublin now we can look forward to getting on a Metro in the next 10 years.

"What we were told when the judical review went in was that it might cause delays but with that, without delays, we could be looking at mid 2030s for when this project opens."