The Office of Public Works (OPW) has spent nearly €180,000 on consultancy advice in relation to the potential impact of the planned Dublin metro system on its properties in the capital.
OPW is not involved directly in developing the MetroLink rail project, which received planning permission last month.
However, in a letter to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee the OPW said it had spent more than €179,000 on advice in relation to the potential impact of the MetroLink project.
In a statement to The Irish Times on Friday the OPW said it owned and operated “a number of properties along the proposed MetroLink, including major Government buildings, office blocks and national cultural institutions”.
RM Block
“Due to the nature of the MetroLink project, appropriate advice was sought from technical experts in areas of specialist planning, engineering and tunnelling works in relation to these properties.”
A key station on the 19km planned MetroLink route from Swords in north Dublin to Charlemont near Ranelagh will be at St Stephen’s Green, which has been managed by OPW since 1877.
The planned metro station at St Stephen’s Green East would involve the removal on a short-term basis of the Wolfe Tone monument and Famine Memorial as well as the removal of existing railings and a number of trees.
The planning decision by An Coimisiún Pleanána says there will be “very significant adverse impact on the setting and character of the protected structure and national monument at St Stephen’s Green, including enclosing items and surrounding bollards and traditional street lamp-posts, during construction, arising from the scale of clearance and excavation works proposed and the required presence of construction elements within the park for prolonged periods”.
“Following the completion of construction (State transport developer) Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) proposes to restore the Green, including restoration of enclosing itself and relocation of the Wolfe Tone Sculpture and Famine Memorial. The restored Green will contain station elements, and the restoration landscaping strategy will have a limited effect in addressing the overall impact of construction for a period of at least a number of years.”
OPW said in the letter to the Public Accounts Committee: “A number of properties, including historically / culturally significant / protected properties and properties critical to the ongoing business of Government, managed by the OPW are impacted by the proposed route of the MetroLink.”
OPW said it had worked closely with TII and the National Transport Authority and had engaged fully with the planning process, over the last number of years in relation to the metro project “in order to support the delivery of MetroLink and to mitigate its impact on our properties in line with our statutory and management / maintenance obligations”.
“The OPW has not incurred any capital expenditure in relation to the MetroLink. However due to the nature of the project, and the potential impacts on OPW property, specialist planning and engineering / tunnelling advice was required. A total of €179,464 has been incurred to date on these advices.”
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The MetroLink project is expected to begin operation in the mid-2030s. It is expected to be the most expensive public project in the history of the State. Full costs are not expected to be known until a tendering process has been completed.
In a preliminary business to the Government before seeking planning permission, TII included cost estimates, with a “risk allowance range” for inflation up to 2034.
At that time €9.5 billion was the midpoint of a “credible” cost range of €7.16 billion to €12.25 billion. However, a figure of more than €23 billion was cited as the extreme upper limit of costs, if all conceivable risks were to be eliminated.
