Austerity madness must end
The announcement by Minister Varadkar that the Metro West project has been suspended is another broken promise to west Dublin communities.
Instead of paying the debts of bankers and speculators, millions could be invested to get Metro West and Metro North underway, creating thousands of jobs and providing much-needed public transport. It is the austerity programme started by Fianna Fail and now being clung to by this government which is jeopardising the most meaningful job creation project in west Dublin.
During the boom, west Dublin took tens of thousands of houses but never got the public transport needed. Whole communities have been left isolated and dependent on a bus service that is being cut. Blanchardstown now has over 100,000 people but no light rail system, Luas or Metro.
Hundreds of acres of land and thousands of houses were also rezoned by Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and other councillors on the basis of the provision of Metro West. Communities were lied to in effect.
Metro West and North should be made big issues by people in the upcoming Dublin West by-election.
