An drawing of the proposed plans going through Clondalkin
‘Absolutely disgraceful’ with delay of dart extension
“Absolutely disgraceful.”
A letter has been sent to Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien TD to express frustration with the postponement of the Dart+ South West extension until at least 2030.
The Dart+ South West project has been pushed back until at least 2030 by the Government, despite it having full planning permission.
Dart+ South West is intended to run between Hazelhach & Celbridge station and Heuston Station and then further north via the Phoenix Park Tunnel Branch Line.
The new service would cater to areas like Clondalkin/Fonthill along the way, doubling the current number of trains per hour and quadrupling the capacity.
The extension would travel from Kildare into Adamstown, onto Kishoge and then Clondalkin/Fonthill, through the village of Clondalkin, before reaching Park West and Cherry Orchard and then continuing on towards Heuston and a proposed Heuston West station.
Councillor Madeleine Johansson expressed her disappointment at the decision taken by the Government and the impact they have on future development plans for the region, including the strategic development zones of Adamstown and Clonburris.
Cllr Johansson said: “There’s no objection to this project whatsoever, quite the opposite. We need the Dart+ in order to serve all the housing that’s being built in our area.
“Both SDZs, Adamstown and particularly Clonburris – all the discussions we had around here about Clonburris SDZ in 2018 was about Dart+ South West.
“Because there was no other way that we were going to be able to build all those houses without having that kind of transport infrastructure to service those houses.
“And now the fact that’s not even going to start construction until after 2030 is absolutely disgraceful.”
Housing targets were also recently increased for local authorities and South Dublin County Council are currently in the process of rezoning land to suit those demands.
South Dublin will have to wait for more public transport infrastructure to service these houses they are expected to build.
Councillor Liona O’Toole called for more attention to be given to the existing bus infrastructure in the area following the Dart+ delay: “I’ve lost faith in the Dart…I’ve lost faith in the Luas.”
Councillor Joanna Tuffy compared the delivery of the Phoenix Park tunnel with the lack of delivery of Metro projects since 2002 and noted that working with existing infrastructure like the Dart is “much easier than starting from scratch.”
The Dart+ South West extension received planning permission in November 2024 after an application was lodged in March 2023.
The project is currently in the project design, planning and procurement stage, but procurement is not expected to be completed until 2028 or 2029.
Cllr Johansson said: “At the same time, the government are asking us to rezone more land for housing. How are we expected to do that when we know that they are the ones who are not putting forward the funding for us to get the transport infrastructure that we need to build those houses?
“I mean, we just can’t do that.”
Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.
