Councillors fume over government delay of Dart line meant to serve thousands of homes planned for west Dublin

On 19 November, the council’s South Central Area Committee backed plans to rezone lands between Inchicore and Ballyfermot to make way for 5,000 more homes – plus schools, community centres, and places of employment.

On Monday at their December monthly meeting, the full council considered the rezoning of these lands along Kylemore Way and Jamestown Road, and a masterplan for them.

But in the 11 days in between, the national government announced that it wasn’t going to fund a piece of infrastructure key to the whole plan until sometime past 2030. 

In the plans, at the heart of this district, is a proposed Kylemore Dart Station, on the planned Dart+ South West extension.  

That public transport link in this west Dublin area was supposed to help move the thousands of new residents to and from town. 

After An Bord Pleanála approved the Dart+ South West project last year – Irish Rail had announced that it anticipated the start of construction in 2026.

But when the Department of Transportation on 26 November published the latest version of its plans for funding big infrastructure projects, those didn’t include the Dart+ South West project.

The plan runs from 2026 to 2030. For the Dart+ South West project, under “Construction Timeline”, it says “2030+”. So, not in this plan.

At the council meeting Monday, several councillors were not pleased with what they cast as the government undermining Dublin City Council’s efforts to properly plan a whole new district of housing around appropriate transport links.

“We have a government driving at us [the council] to try and deliver more housing and then the local necessary public transport network that would make that housing more liveable for the future inhabitants, the future residents has been pushed out,” said Labour Councillor Darragh Moriarty.

Kylemore district

The council decided on Monday to start the process of rezoning the Kylemore lands, and settling the masterplan, as a step to development in that area. 

It’s one of the first big moves by Dublin City Council under the City Edge project, which looks to transform, eventually, 700 hectares on the western fringe of the city.

The push to rezone the lands stems from national plans calling on councils to rezone more land as residential, so that more housing can be built. 

There are two anchors in the masterplan for the planned new Kylemore district, Ronan Fallon, a council planner, told councillors at the South Central Area Committee meeting in November.

One is the planned Kylemore Dart station.

The other is the old CIÉ Chassis Production Factory on Jamestown Road, which is currently owned by the Office of Public Works (OPW).

Plans would see a significant educational, cultural, or social use around the factory, Fallon said.

The masterplan for the area also shows three new schools, centred on a big park, and community spaces peppered throughout the plan area, said Fallon. 

City planner Emer Uí Fhátharta said at Monday’s meeting that the council is taking a “plan-led” approach to developing the Kylemore district.  

“Sustainable communities is at the heart of everything we’re doing and that’s all the wraparound facilities that any new community requires in order to not only sustain themselves but to thrive within it,” she said.

Sinn Féin Councillor Daithí Doolan said the plans for Kylemore are “hugely welcome”. 

“We’re building homes and housing,” he said, “but we need to make sure that they’re of a high standard that they actually deliver social, affordable – affordable to buy and affordable to rent – that this isn’t a blank cheque to developers.” 

Frustration

The Dart+ South West project, approved by An Bord Pleanála last year, is meant to turn the existing rail line from Hazelhatch through Kylemore into town into a high-frequency, electrified Dart line.

Although the planned Kylemore Dart station is technically separate from that plan, “Iarnród Éireann, CIÉ, and the NTA are working together to coordinate the delivery of both projects”, Irish Rail has said.

A year ago, Irish Rail said that for Dart+ South West, “Subject to funding being allocated it is anticipated that construction will commence in 2026.”

After the announcement that the government was planning to push this out past 2030, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien, a Fianna Fáil TD, in reaction to criticism of that move, was quoted last Thursday in the Irish Times as saying that might change. 

The timelines in the plan are “indicative and we will be looking at projects and we have flex within plan, and we’ll be doing that,” O’Brien is quoted as saying. “If we can move projects forward, we will. Dart + South West is something I’m absolutely committed to.”

But on Monday, some councillors at Dublin city council’s monthly meeting were still clearly frustrated by the delay. 

“We’re building 5,000 homes here around Kylemore Road at the direct behest of the government, which I completely welcome,” said Green Party Councillor Ray Cunningham.  

“And we’re also building at the same time, around Cherry Orchard Point, about 800 homes,” said Cunningham, referring to the first phase of a Land Development Agency project.

Both projects were supposed to be served by Dart+ South West, Cunningham said.

Feljin Jose, a Green Party councillor and the party’s spokesperson on transport, expanded on this theme. 

Adamstown and Clonburris are being built out with 10,000 homes each, plus there are plans for 5,000 at Kylemore, another 1,000+  in Bluebell and Cherry Orchard, Jose said. 

By his count, that could be about 80,000 people the Dart+ South West line is supposed to serve, he said. 

Shelving that commuter rail project will mean “people moving into these areas when they’re built and buying a new car and being dependent on those cars”, Jose said.

The Dart+ South West project “has planning permission, it could go to contract tomorrow, we could start work on it tomorrow, the only thing that is lacking is government support”, said his Green Party colleague, Cunningham. 

“Why are we building houses without public transport to go with it?” Cunningham said “It makes no sense at all.”

The roads through this part of west Dublin are terribly congested already, said independent Councillor Vincent Jackson. 

“We cannot continue to have house building without proper infrastructure and transport,” Jackson said. 

Putting in public transport like the Dart+ South West line, would help reduce traffic on the roads, said Green Party Councillor Michael Pidgeon. 

“Public transport moves real numbers,” Pidgeon said. “If we keep taking money away from these projects and delaying them, we’re just going to condemn people to slowly losing the will to live in gridlock.”

In response, the council’s assistant chief executive in charge of planning, property and economic development, Anthony Flynn, said he doesn’t “underestimate for one minute” the requirement for public transport to service the area. 

“However, I think what we will do, and what we can do by way of, you know, planning and a planning process, is to ensure as best we can that all of that infrastructure is put in place at the earliest possible time,” he said.

Public consultation

The council plans to put the rezoning and masterplan out for public consultation from 12 December to 21 January, said Uí Fhátharta, the city planner. 

It will be holding public information sessions locally about the changes, said Flynn, the assistant chief executive. 

“Look, we have agreed with yourselves at the South Central Area Committee a couple weeks ago that we will engage with local information sessions,” he said. “We’re committed to that.”