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DONALD TRUMP HAS continued to downplay the growing scandal that saw a journalist inadvertently added to a private group chat of the most senior US officials discussing air strikes on Yemen.
The US President said he will “look into” the use of the Signal app and denied that any classified information was shared in the chat, backing his national security team despite the breach.
The administration is facing mounting pressure after The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg reported that he was included in the conversation on the Signal messaging app.
The material in the text chain “contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Iran-backed Houthi-rebels in Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing”, Goldberg reported.
It was not immediately clear if the specifics of the military operation were classified, but they often are and at the least are kept secure to protect service members and operational security.
Goldberg said he received the Signal invitation from Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security adviser, who was in the group chat. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also in the group chat.
The US National Security Council said the text chain “appears to be authentic”.
The incident has been swiftly condemned by Democratic politicians, with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calling for a full investigation.
Trump initially told reporters that he was not aware that the highly sensitive information had been shared, more than two hours after it was reported.
At a meeting with Waltz this afternoon, when asked by reporters if he would conduct an investigation into the chat, the Republican leader said: “We’ll look into it, sure.”
Asked if he will conduct an investigation into the Signal chat containing attack plans, President Trump says, “We’ll look into it, sure. I would look into it, sure.” Asked if the FBI will lead that, Trump says, “It’s not really an FBI thing. It’s really something having to do… pic.twitter.com/yiUOJ2vQ2G
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 25, 2025
He also doubled down by attacking Goldberg as a “sleazebag” and said “nobody gives a damn” about the story that has rocked Washington.
“There was no classified information,” Trump said when asked about the chat, saying that Signal was used by “a lot of people in government.”
Waltz said US technical and legal experts were looking into the breach but insisted he had “never met, don’t know, never communicated” with Goldberg.
“We are looking into him, reviewing how the heck he got in,” said Waltz when Trump asked him to comment during a meeting with new US ambassadors at the White House.
In a phone interview with broadcaster NBC earlier today, Trump said the breach was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.”
The president added that Waltz, his top security official in the White House, “has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe – who were both reported to be in the chat – endured a stormy Senate Intelligence Committee hearing over the leak today.
“There was no classified material that was shared,” Gabbard, who has previously caused controversy with comments sympathetic to Russia and Syria, told the committee.
Ratcliffe confirmed he was involved in the Signal group but said the communications were “entirely permissible and lawful.”
The White House earlier pushed back more forcefully on the second day of the scandal, after confirming the breach on Monday.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that “no ‘war plans’ were discussed” and “no classified material was sent to the thread.”
She also attacked Goldberg as being “well-known for his sensationalist spin.”
Hegseth, a former Fox News host with no experience running a huge organization like the Pentagon, had also said late Monday that “nobody was texting war plans.”
But top Democrats have condemned the breach, saying it was potentially illegal and calling for an investigation to find out why officials were using a commercially available app for sensitive discussions.
“This is one of the most stunning breaches of military intelligence I have read about in a very, very long time,” Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a speech on Monday afternoon.
“If true, this story represents one of the most egregious failures of operational security and common sense I have ever seen,” said senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, in a statement.
He said American lives are “on the line. The carelessness shown by Mr Trump’s cabinet is stunning and dangerous. I will be seeking answers from the administration immediately”.
Senator Mark Warner blasted what he called “sloppy, careless, incompetent behavior.”
Some Republicans also expressed concerns.
Senator Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters: “We’re very concerned about it and we’ll be looking into it on a bipartisan basis.”
Karoline Leavitt said the White House’s Counsel’s Office “has provided guidance on a number of different platforms for President Trump’s top officials to communicate as safely and efficiently as possible.”
The White House was also “looking into how Goldberg’s number was inadvertently added to the thread.”
The US has conducted air strikes against the Houthis since the militant group began targeting commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea in November 2023.
Just two hours after Goldberg received the details of the attack on 15 March, the US began launching a series of air strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
The leak could have been highly damaging if Goldberg had publicised details of the plan in advance, but he did not do so even after the fact.
He did, however, write that Hegseth sent information on the strikes, including on “targets, weapons the US would be deploying, and attack sequencing,” to the group chat.
“According to the lengthy Hegseth text, the first detonations in Yemen would be felt two hours hence, at 1:45 pm eastern time,” Goldberg wrote – a timeline that was borne out on the ground in Yemen.
Goldberg said he was added to the group chat two days earlier, and received messages from other top government officials designating representatives who would work on the issue.
The group chat featured a number of the most senior Trump officials hitting out at Europe, and seeking ways to make European countries pay the US in the aftermath of the Yemen attacks.
On 14 March, according to The Atlantic report, a person identified as Vance expressed doubts about carrying out the strikes, saying he hated “bailing Europe out again,” as countries there were more affected by Houthi attacks on shipping than the United States.
Group chat contributors identified as National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Hegseth both sent messages arguing only Washington had the capability to carry out the strikes, with the latter official saying he shared Vance’s “loathing of European free-loading. It’s PATHETIC.”
And a person identified as “S M” – possibly Trump advisor Stephen Miller – argued that “if the US successfully restores freedom of navigation at great cost there needs to be some further economic gain extracted in return.”
With reporting by Jane Moore, Press Association and © AFP 2025
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When I built my house back in 2009 I had to pay a levy of €3,000 towards Metro North. If the planning permission expired (which I think was this year) I was due to be refunded. With it being kicked to 2026 I probably have no chance of seeing this money again. Apparently millions of euro are sitting in a bank account somewhere. No transparency, no update, they might as well have knocked on my door and robbed me.
I’m sure it’s just “resting” in an account somewhere Ciaran. Malta perhaps?
Who did you pay this to? Why not knock on their door and get it back?
Ciaran if you are named anywhere in documentation relating to that 3K payment then I’m sure under the data protection act you can indeed find out more as to where this money is and even more if it was the local authority or a government department then you can do an FOI request ….Go Ciaran Go…..
No. The planning may still expire and therefore this fairytale plan is fiction and you should get your 3k back. The announce today is PR spin – there’s no link to planning
Why not make a claim in the small claims court for the cash back and see what happens..
Consultants, best job in Ireland. Providing information that goes no further. Joke of a country!!!!
If your waiting for the Luas in swords it arrives at 2027 and not 20.27
Ah promises promises, people with good intentions make promises, people with good character keep them. Election anyone.
Parish pump politics and Dublin has the biggest parish pump in Ireland! If any government said it was going to spend €2.4 billion on an infrastructural development anywhere outside of Dublin the commentariat would be knocking over their lattes with rage. Yes, Dublin needs an efficient public transport system to an airport but other parts of Ireland need broadband, post offices, garda stations, economic infrastructure and a transport service too.
Brian, it really doesn’t matter. This is pretty much guaranteed not to happen as it is an electioneering stunt. If FG get back into power, in my opinion they will do nothing about this until close to the next election.
If anyone else gets in to power it will be scrapped due to cost.
I truly believe that Metro North will never happen!
Or wouldn’t it make more sense to allow the IIRC wealth destruction strategy be used to actually produce something other than debt.
It would decimate the livelihood of 2000 Airport based taxi drivers and seriously damage companies like Airlink.
But who ever cared about them?
The government that has launched new postcode that now seems not worth it.
The government that gave us a monster in Irish water.
The government that closed149 gardai stations to save less than their expenses.
The government that messed up the aran islands air service.
The government that resides over the worse homeless crisis.
The government that resides over a third world health system.
The government that thinks its OK to use gardai as taxis to the airport.
The government bthat thinks phoning Kenya is OK.
The government that resides over Moriarty.
The government that gave us irbc, siteserv.
Fennelly, NAMA, penalty points scandal and so on.
What could go wrong?
@littleone i’m not a FG apologist, but decades of government neglect caused a few of your points not just FG.
Which ones John?
John postcode this government.
Irish water this government.
Aran islands mess up this government.
Closure of gardai stations this government.
Homeless worst state has ever seen. This government due to their policies.
Minister that uses gardai as taxi service. This government.
Phone calls to Kenya , this government.
Nothing done over Moriarty. This government.
Irbc, siteserv this government.
Fennelly this government.
Penalty points scandal under their watch they defended the commissioner.
Nama scandal up north this government.
John all this government.
Try and do a list for FF in their last term in office. And I’ll see if I get cramp in my finger from scrolling down…
Jodus why don’t you make your own list. Funny enough you don’t disagree with my list.
I have no interest in making lists! But don’t pretend that any term of government in the last 30 years doesn’t have a similar list of serious deficiencies. You really think FF are a viable alternative, after what they did to this country??
You can hardly blame them for penalty points bring cancelled. Also they actually got the postcodes launched, unlike every other government who just said they would.
Bit touchy their jodus. Where do I even mention ff. Please point it out . I didn’t. Now get off your high horse, whether you like it or not , these are under their watch. Now let’s get something straight , I don’t care what party has run the country but when they are currently in charge , then I won’t kiss their a,ss no matter what mistakes they have made. Now where do I mention FF . please show me. Your problem you don’t like being shown what this government have done.
@littleone.
Your list is correct, this is a list of the symptoms of a todays defunct irish society. But you seem to be inferring that this all started when this shower of wasters took over from the previous shower of crooks!
I am glad they closed tiny rural garda stations that were a useless hang over from the days of the RIC when the population had to watched over for signs of insurrection. Far better to have a garda going around in a squad car than being holed up inside a station on his or her own.
I am using the postcode and I notice more and more letters have it on them. Postcodes are not compulsory but they are useful to many people.
What’s wrong with a helicopter service to the Aran Islands? Better value for the taxpayer, or don’t taxpayers have rights too?
NAMA is making a profit having been predicted to be a financial disaster in 2009. Only today it made €700 million over what it paid for the Joe O’Reilly loans on Dundrum Shopping Centre….. NAMA could be wound up in a couple of years way ahead of schedule..
The government that gave us IBRC? so you would prefer that Anglo and INBS had not been nationalised and left as they were? What was the alternative in 2013? Even the opposition supported it.
….
Philip to be honest , its gotten to the stage now where its pathetic , when government parties previous and past have made some shameful decisions and all they and their supporters can say is but the last government messed up more. Their elected to do a job and a job is what they should do and do properly and if they can’t do that then resign
@Ciaran
I honestly don’t know where to start…
Ciaran you may be glad that’s yours got closed but its fantasy to think that a gardai car is driving around instead every where. Only a little while a story was run about the postcode where millions that were spent on it might not be even worth it. If the helicopter was right , why did government cancel it? What can you say about NAMA. As for irbc the bank that loved giving big writedowns to certain individuals and is now being the centre of an inquiry.
It’ll never happen.the consultants will get all the money
and solid gold bars for everyone
Gotta love the headline. .The government has relaunched the ‘Metro North’ plan to link Dublin with its airport. Relaunched. After the election it will be shelved again.
Exactly. There is no intent to actually ever build it.
election tactics in full flow today, we’ve seen it all before & we’re not falling for it !
Jammin is telling everyone tgat am election is being called today for Nov. Edge of the seat stuff.
Fine Gaels pre election “Bertie Bowl” end of.
At last! Long overdue. A “no brainer” if there ever was one. I think it can be done much sooner though? The demand is there.
Do you really believe this is going to happen? There’s an election coming you know. What happened to “no people on trollies”, or “no more quangos”. Pure soundbite.
I do Martin. It will have to be done eventually. Optics is important, but don’t read into optics too much.
In the plans since 2001 Once the election is over it will still be in the plans in 2020. Consultants will earn many more millions from the Irish taxpayer…..
Very true Bob; I live in Ballymun & a “rail link to the airport” has been promised before every election for decades. “Shir it’s what you tend to do in elections” as Phat might say!
Good luck with that Noel, don’t hold your breath.
Irish Water was planned and scapped since the 80′s, Eircode since the 90′s and Metro North since 00′s.
All solid and necessary ideas which would benefit everyone involved….but no…ruined by greedy governments who see innovation and investment and means to fill their own pockets. Meanwhile it’s the poor sods who get paid a modest wage to put in meters, stare at data and dig tunnels who will bear the brunt of the abuse of the Irish public and lefties.
Here is the link to the full NTA report. Just read the last few pages of conclusions. Metro North is the only feasible long term solution. The report also outlines why all the others proposals didn’t stack up. I’d rather wait 8 years for the right system, than wait 5 years for the wrong system! The Luas would have been crowed out by year 1. The BRT wasn’t even at the races capacity wise. The mainline rail link had poor cost benefit numbers and intrusive impact.
Is there an election or something due in the next year?? I’m trying to be sarcastic
The metro north plan has bee in the works since 2001, and all its done is made a lot of consultants a whole pile of cash.
Now, this government in its last throes reveal a plan stretching out to 2026? Chicken in every pot stuff, an election will be round the corner any minute now.
“Magic beans for sale, who will buy my magic beans……”
“An election will be around the corner very soon”
Sure you said it was on 20th Nov and was being called today. Good look to the PBP
2021 before it even starts!!!!. This is a joke. From experience 6 years is a long time in this country with planning and long enough for another report to say its not ambitious enough or too ambitious and needs to be looked at again. This is just kicking a can down the road.
Build it now, traffic is already started to get unbearable again and the quality of peoples lives reducing due to longer and more stressful commuting.
The untruths campaign has truly begun.
Why are the “tight strings” quartet, not putting a man on the Moon-by 2025..?
(There is still a few bob to be taken from old age pensioner’s fuel and phone allowance..)
I really, REALLY want an underground in Dublin. Congestion will only get worst, and everyone knows it. However, knowing FG/lab, they would rather tax roads further than do any updating to public transport. They will have the metro on the long finger until they are ousted, likely in the not too distant future.
And 2026? We have had so many plans on it that surely they could have got it underway at this point?! 10 years is 10 years too long.
After what i heard on Matt Cooper yesterday from passengers on the red line muggings, people being assaulted by junkies everyday, one guy told of sitting next to a sleeping junkie with a needle sticking out of his arm, There is no way i would trust anyone in Ireland to build or run a underground transport system. I am staying above ground
Hey Journal why don’t you do a bit of real journalist for once and question why this can’t start in 2017???? The design and plan is ready to go, so what is stopping them???
2021 is two General Elections away!
The entire media in this country are government lapdogs
Joan gets her ugly mug into every photo op
How many elections has this been promised ? Also folks remember this is your money these politicians are using to buy your votes, they will borrow every cent of this you and I will have too pay back every cent +interest. Remember what they promised last election time.
It’s about time, however the original was to be started in 2011 and completed in 2017 – why is this one taking 11 years?
one is a realistic plan, the other opens next year….
2026!!!!!!???
thats only 11 years. digging tunnels takes time.
@Brian
Digging tunnel does take time, but it doesn’t take 11 years. Even the Government recognise that, because they say construction will only take 5 years, from 2021 to 2026. The question is what’s happening between now and 2021 that needs 6 years? The route has already been selected, and planning permission won’t take that long.
It’s not the digging time I’d have problems with, it’s the 6 year wait to start
redirecting services, EIS, planning, Etc
…or kicking the can out beyond the much-hoped-for 2nd term?
No mention of cost?!
2.4 billion + vat.
Well it’s certainly cheaper than the 4billion of previous proposed versions
Well that’s Pascal Donohue’s figure anyway. Plus he never said at what percentage vat. It’s probably 50%.
*percentage of vat
And how much back in income tax from the jobs it creates? Infrastructure projects often cost much less when you factor in the tax intake from the workers and companies involved…
Lets face it. If it happens on time and within budget, I’m a 30 stone canary.
“Well it’s certainly cheaper than the 4billion of previous proposed versions”
There is no cheap way to do public transport, which is why it won’t be built.
Why does MN need another 6 years in planning? Especially if the proposal only modifies the existing one? The truth is it doesn’t, and it’s all being set up for a future government to cancel yet again. As soon as Dart Underground and Metro North were cancelled, Dublin was immediately consigned to nothing being built for another two decades.
Consultants no doubt licking their lips and rubbing their grubby little fingers at these announcements….
Some of it underground. All of it should be underground Ffs.
Why??? its to expensive and can’t happen if its all underground. Very few countries have a metro that is fully underground.
Brian it does not all have to be underground. Many parts of the tube in London and Subway in NY are overground.
You got any idea what exists under the streets and fields of North Dublin? They found all sort of obstacles doing the port tunnel, which was much shorter…
@Jodus: The main obstacles are FG, Labour and FF!
How much did the production of this plan cost? Why are government resources being wasted producing a plan for people with no mandate to implement it?
If FG-Labour want to produce an election manifesto, they should do it using their own resources and time.
So governments shouldn’t plan?
Ye planning is so important to the government. Even failed plans are better than nothing but plans built to win elections on shady promises are a joke. Its the same old story, on the face of it doing the right things but for all the wrong reasons.
They plan to start Metro North in 2021. Yes, basically 2 elections away. They are even making a budget prediction for this, one thing is certain, nobody can predict inflation or other circumstances for the next 6 years. This is all bullshit and spin, and once again our useless media are falling for it.
So is it a tram line or an actual train line?
Is taking tourists through Ballymun a good idea?
We already give them free reign in Temple Bar. How much worse can Ballymun be? :)
The green area that was earmarked for the stop in Ballymun is right near the travelodge and all the fancy new buildings. The flats are being demolished and the biggest eyesore is the shopping centre – which was going to be redeveloped until the metro north fell through so it might get an upgrade. Then the area will actually look pretty good. As for the people, never once encountered any problems, so I wouldn’t be too concerned with having a stop there.
Thank God we are pushing ahead with this project. If we don’t dither and backbite, and if we get cracking on it this year we might actually get it completed by 2023, and not 2026, in time for the Rugby World Cup if we win the right to host it!
The completion of Metro North will begin the process of eventually developing a comprehensive Underground railway system for the greater Dublin area, which in turn will greatly benefit the economic growth of the country at large, attract inward investment, improve the experience of tourists and will greatly improve the quality of life of Dublin residents and commuters.
Well said. Need to think long term, not point scoring on the Journal and Twitter machine.
I’ve just incorporated a light rail consultancy company, I dont know anything about light rail but just give me a few months to get up to speed , oh I also know a few TD’s personally, so share in my company would be a good bet …
it is ridiculous that we have at least another 11 years to wait for something that is taken for granted in every other country
Taken for granted? What are you in about? Do you think their parents buy it for them? We needed to have enough money to afford it.
We didn’t build it when we had money either.
Metro North and DART Underground being cancelled has nothing to do with money.
Relaunched from FF/Greens original plan too. Continuation FF is all FG are.
Who fkckn cares what party is where so long as we get a viable link from the airport to the CC and servicing a chunk of the Northside populace.
All the stupid talk of elections and parties shows the mindset of some folks on here. This is a positive story and should be regarded as such, unless you have viable opposition to such a project which is fine.
20 minutes from the city centre to the airport? Isn’t it already that when taking a citylink bus? Will probably be cheaper too.
Indeed there is. takes less than 30mins via the port tunnel.Meantime outside the pale try driving from Cork to Limerick via the motorway. You Can’t as it doesn’t exist.Proposed cost is 1/3 that of the metro to connect the second and 3rd cities in the country ie Cork and Limerick. Munster region has a population of 1.25 million people will have to wait at least another 10 years before a sod is turned
Don’t forget that the M20 would also mean there was motorway between Galway and Cork as well (given the M18/M17 is under construction), would provide an important corridor linking 2nd, 3rd and 4th largest urban areas in the state.
Yeah, chinny chinny reckon. Would this all start AFTER the election, by any chance?
What are Limerick people being offered, nothing. What are Cork, Galway, Waterford and every other county in Ireland being offered. Nothing. Where is the M20 from Cork to Limerick, M30 from Waterford to Cork, M18 from Galway to Limerick. In fact not a single full motorway connecting two large towns in Ireland that isn’t in the direction to Dublin. Another 10 years of needless deaths on these terrible roads. How is it surprising that rents are going through the roof in Dublin when no money is being spent in the rest of the country to spread the growth.
well said
“M18 from Galway to Limerick”
Currently being built, which is more than can be said for this fantasy Metro!
Some of those stops are in idiotic locations. At the Mater, that’s already a highly built up area, where are they going to put it? Griffith Avenue too…the residents will challenge that in court. You pay big money to live there for peace and quiet. Also no Whitehall area stop, why?
They’re putting it underground at the Mater and at Griffith Avenue. And every stop between Stephen’s Green and DCU. The only disruption at ground level will be when they’re building the station entrances, and that’ll be minimal compared tot eh disruption of building the entire line above ground.
But it is badly needed at the Mater, people heading there from the Northside, and as for Griffith Ave, it will be in the green area just north of the road, plus trams are much quieter than buses or trains…
The underground station box for the Mater stop has already been built during their recent upgrading works.
Only thing now is by 2027 they’ll probably have to do all sorts of repairs after lying idle for 12 years
Provision was made for the Mater stop when building the last extension
they have already built the station under the Mater in anticipation of the Metro. it cost €20 million.
Are they still building the new children’s hospital at the mater site? It was selected as the MEtro makes it accesible
Why is it always from the City center to either the North or South of the City? Does no one live in the West, like Lucan or Ballyfermot for example?
2026 is worst case scenario. 2023 ish would be best case scenario. The unknown element is the planning overhaul. There was an actual meeting about this last night in Swords, all were welcome, less than 100 showed up. The RPA, now TII, will reuse and repurpose as much as possible of the 2010 railway order, EIAs etc.. If people would actually turn up at meetings and give their input instead of being keyboard warriors, we might be able to get this moving quicker. As was clear at the meeting, we’d rather wait 8 years for the right system, than 5 years for the wrong one!
““It was a prudent and responsible approach and one which was contrary to the populist promise-all, deliver-little approach taken by Fianna Fáil.”
Except at least some of the transport projects mooted by Fianna Fail actually got built at some point rather than rehashed and re-announced every five years. Rumour has it you can actually travel on a real LUAS in some parts of Dublin, not just look at a nice map of it standing on the stage at yet another “announcement”.
Ah the amazing Fianna Fail who ripped up and sold off old the Harcourt train line two years before they spent millions on reports advising them to build the Green LUAS line.
There was an intact train line running from the City centre to Shankill up until the late 90s.
There still is, it’s called the Dart.
The dart goes all the way out to greystones now!
More bollocks!
Don’t you just love this time of year……The Transport system getting an overhaul, Hospitals getting money, Schools getting more money ….ah Yea everything is coming up Millhouse ……..Election anyone…
Yep And pigs can fly
They actually believe people are stupid…Sad
How about an M50 style ring road for Cork and that Cork/Limerick motorway?
Sligo could do with the M4 not ending in Mullingar.
Two years ago i watched the start of two parallel tunnel extensions to the underground system in Sofia (Capitol of Bulgaria). This year i was able to use those extensions. Why does everything take so long in Ireland? Is it vested interest? Maybe a certain business man is trying to but a company from NAMA first.
Another project carefully designed to never be delivered.
Yes, the link will be called ” a bus”
LIARS
2027, so if there’s any hold ups/snags, people could be sitting on it watching the next “BLOODRED SUPERMOON,
It’s too late. We’ll all be dead by the time it’s finished. If it even gets started.
Ok train from Dublin city to airport. How do we get to Dublin city?
Oh wait we drive, daftest idea without dart inter connecter
This is becoming too much like The Boy Who Cried Wolf. This idea has gone through numerous variations and here they are:
1. A DART system was proposed back in the 70s and 80s that would have connected Maynooth and Tallaght to the city on top of the current system.
2. At the turn of the century, we were given A Platform For Change.
3. In 2005, we were given the Transport 21 project which is pretty much an evolution of A Platform For Change. The two biggest components of this, DART Underground (formerly known as The Interconnector) and Metro North were scheduled to be open by this year. Neither materialized and traffic is still awful.
4. In the last week, renewal of planning permission was scrapped for DART Underground which is a huge amount of effort and money down the toilet. At least, if there was a plan there, keep it until funds are there to bring it to fruition.
To show some mercy, there is a DART system, 2 separate (but, soon to be connected) Luas lines and a commitment to open the Phoenix Park Tunnel to passengers by 2016. Nevertheless, these are the tip of the iceberg from a traffic congestion relief perspective.
Then, there is the M50 which is seeing more usage now than at the height of the boom. However, this is a major opportunity for the relevant transportation bodies to formulate a plan for a proper orbital rail system which would incentivize current users and future users of the M50 to make the switch. At the moment, v-shaped commutes or commutes which place undue dependency on traveling into Dublin City only to come out the other end are time consuming and can take anything up to and over 2 hours each way.
Dublin needs a circuit service metro within the city. It would be a massive boon if you could jump on a metro line from the Three Arena, Busarus, O’Connell Street, Parnell Square, Criminal Courts, Phoenix Park etc and back the south side via Stephen’s Green.
I’d rather see this money turn the health service around rather than another route to the airport! They really need to prioritise the spending in this county an quite frankly I can’t see the need of another transport system taking priorty over the sick! When the money is there an everything else isn’t falling asunder maybe den consider more transport service but I know I’d rather me tax go on helping the sick than getting someone to the airport on time..
We spend around 14 billion a year on health already. That’s nearly €3,000 per person and that’s without taking notice of the huge % that don’t avail of it. It’s about time the department gave us value for money instead of tugging at our heart strings and looking for more.
We need good transport so people can get to work to earn the taxes to throw down the black hole that is the health budget.
Tats great @Le Tigre when ur left waitin on a hospital trolley in a corridor for days on end or turned away for a much needed procedure come back to me.. as it is Dublin Airport is quite accessible within the city.. by all means extend a rail line, put on an extra bus service. Personally my opinion is 2.4 BILLION is a bit of a ridiculous amount to spend for this. As I said the many services in this country are fallin asunder and health care being one of them. I think a lil prioritising wudn of gone astray! The health service needs a major overhaul an needs to be ran proper or its only goin to get worse. It’s not for a heart string, in my eyes it’s common sense!
If the health service was run properly they’d save more than this will cost per year and be able to sort out their own issues, the problem isn’t funding – it’s excessive layers of management sitting around and inadequate investment in the parts that actually matter – like front line staff and facilities.
Anyway not too worry This is only electioneering and once we all vote for FG like sheep it will get delayed until it is announced for the following election. FG don’t ever deliver in infrastructure.
Ten years before Metro project in operation way too long. Why does everything in this country take forever – it took 30 years to build the M50 – ever wonder why we struggle to reach our potential – one of the reasons must be because it takes so long for anything to get completed.
While I fully support the idea of a rail link to the airport, it’s absolutely ridiculous that the Government is now planning a light rail link (i.e. LUAS), instead of the standard-width metro carriage originally proposed. Apart from the fact that this will require a brand new planning application, delaying the start of the project by another 5-6 years (and all the costs that this will entail both in terms of new consultants’ fees, planning process etc, as well as the lost productivity and extra costs to travellers and commuters), there is also a fatal flaw in the proposal: LUAS carriages are simply too narrow to carry hordes of commuters from Swords as well as passengers from Dublin Airport with their suitcases. It’s bad enough when a handful of travellers with suitcases get on board at Heuston or Connolly at present. Now imagine the situation when hundreds of travellers with suitcases get on at the same time during the peak morning rush hour (which is also the busiest time for the airport), with carriages already full of commuters from Swords. Making the carriages longer won’t get around the problem that it will be too tight a squeeze, delaying boarding and alighting. Not to mention the fact that light rail is slower. The Minister has been poorly-advised (again).
It’s not a Luas, it’s a Metro. Wider, longer, faster. The gauge of both the Metro and Luas is the standard gauge used in most European countries. The vehicles will be wider than a Luas.. Luas is only slim because it shares the streets with traffic, cyclists and pedestrians. Metro won’t share space with anything else.
Never gonna happen.
Dart underground connects north docks south docks, coastal dart line , both kiss lines , Connolly station, Heston station, Stephens green, with inner city, Kildare line, maynooth line drogheda line . So anyone living working, studying, shopping, visiting in any of these lines areas can quickly go to somewhere on any other in less than 30minutes. Live in drogheda, work in sandyford. Live in Naas study in UCD, live in Malahide work in Ranelagh go for a meal in Dawson street, shop in O Connell street. Add a spur to the airport and any of these areas or by train to Dublin and change quickly to the airport. City free to walk, live and socialise in.
That’s right..dig up the city instead of creating a luas type train service branching off at a new transit hub southwest of current donabate station..terminate diesel trains here and passengers transit onto dart..express luas type train from airport to swords to Donabate m1 junction (big park n Ride here) onto donabate and direct to Dublin connolly..no roads to be dug up…
Getting a train as far as Donabate and then having to change to a Dart in order to get into the city is less convenient than what’s currently on offer…
Nigel, that is way to complicated. people wouldn’t use it.
kevin – it would be far more more efficient as diesel trains would be nore frequent with no dart congestion..darts would be more efficient with no diesel trains…people in other major cities have more than one mode of transport to work..we are obsesed with point to point transport
That is the daftest plan I’ve ever read.
Nigel, what diesel trains are you talking about?
The only diesel service that even passes through Donabate is the Dublin-Belfast train and there’s generally only once of them every two hours or so. Having them stop at Donabate will do nothing other than inconvenience people.
hi Kevin…if you travelled that line daily you would know all trains that run fron Dundalk/ drogheda to Dublin are Diesel trains…the only trains that are not diesel is the Dart…i never said have the northern express stop at donabate…
why is it daft Jerry..having a park and ride just at the M1 with a train service to city could take hundreds of cars out of the city daily
How many times a year do most people use Dublin airport vs how many times do you drive in and out of Dublin city?
One line again great but without being connected to the other lines we will only ever use 10% of its possibility.
Next year will be the 100th Anniversary of the 1916 rising…by the time this Metro is scheduled to be completed it will be the 110th anniversary of 1916
Seeing is believing.
Pretty sure metro north was given a 10 year planning permission/railway order
Since ALL parties are in favour of Metro, I fail to see how its electioneering stunts. Now, they maybe able to compete on the delivery timescale? Fair enough on that point. The long and realistic delivery time, instead of being a point of derision, actually proves to me that this is NOT about the next election, or the next for that matter. Rejoice!
What a waste.
Are we going to let them away with this?
We always do…
Fully support this project but its total electioneering, look at the time frame for starters, kicked out to 2026. If they actually wanted this they wouldn’t have shelved it in 2011 only to now bring it back before an election. Anyone else also find it bizarre how UCD isn’t serviced by anything other than buses despite the thousands of people who work and study on that campus every day. It however never seems to get a look in for any kinds of projects, a Luas green line spur from Miltown through the park to UCD would not be overly difficult or break the bank.
Any indication of the major differences between this and the metro that already has planning permission and could begin tomorrow if funds were allocated? Seems daft to go back to square 1 after apparently spending €140 million on the previous plan.
The differences are irrelevant. I strongly suspect that during the planning process, the “new Metro North” will end up becoming almost identical to the old one. Likewise, with DART Underground. The whole point of the “review” exercise was to make sure that the present Metro North plan was completely ruled out, and something new *had* to be designed from the ground up, to give the government another 6 years of not having to commit to anything.
It’s heartening to see more and more people seeing this for the sham that it is. If only our media could cotton onto it instead of just regurgitating government propaganda verbatim.
O Electioneering… I saw Howlin and his body language, his eyes kept moving to the right and his head going down like a puppy that has wet the floor and knew he did wrong… It all seemed to me that I felt he was telling lies but that is my view after seeing his body language on 6.1 news tonight? But I could be wrong?
Read the report. They have to do it, it was the only option. Not everything is about the electoral cycle.
I have to disagree, this announcement is completely to do with the electoral cycle. There is an option called “Metro North” with planning permission that they could start now if they wanted. The report removed it from consideration at the earliest possible stage, to ensure that whatever was picked would have to go through a brand new planning process. The government have blatantly said they’re not bothered about building it because they’ve pushed it beyond two elections essentially.
It’s the usual story. By 2021, 2026, whatever, it’ll be cancelled and redesigned again.
In fact, as a general comment, the whole capital investment plan, public transport-wise, is a pile of lies. They’re re-announcing existing projects (Luas Cross City, Phoenix Park,), with any new improvements, like Balbriggan DART pushed out ’til after 2020. They must be delighted, they’ve blatantly announced they don’t intend to deliver *anything* for our capital during their next term and they’ve gotten away with it.
In principle, it’s the right decision to build it. At last Labour accept that. I agree, the timescale is too long. So you’re absolutely correct, it’s Metro North versus New Metro North. Build it now or later. FF, SF and the greens want it built now. FG and Lab want it later. So now we have size up both plans and decide who can actually deliver this and when. That’s democracy.
They want private money to built it in order to privatise it later on?
Pity they can’t put in quality cycle lanes. Dublin is not a large city. Don’t really want to share lanes with cars and I’m sure the feeling is mutual.
Bus, train, luas, drive, cycle or walk. How people normally get to the city.
So you bus, drive, cycle with ur suitcase into the city to get a metro to the airport? Makes no sense. Other cities u get a connected rail network, personally I’ll continue to drive until there is a connected rail network if ever. Priority should be getting the best out of all current transport modes by connecting them.
Yes you get the bus with a suitcase. This is how it already happens.
Waste of money,build a line from clongriffin to airport along n32,much cheaper,great bus service to town already thru tunnel,money could n spent better
Clongriffin to the airport doesn’t serve any of the destinations on the corridor except the airport.
Omg “sorry” but how hard would it be to build a connection to the existing Belfast line to the airport. Or Gould it not be able to handle the extra traffic?
This coming from Enda who said before he was elected that he wouldn’t pay another red cent to bondholders
There’s still no bloody cross-city connections above the Liffey!
Snail metro
Just make sure you give a few hours before setting off. You’d be in NY faster than using LUAS
How do you connect to Metro North if arriving into Heuston ? Stephens Green and O’Connell Street are a long way from Heuston.
Just hop on the DART Underground. Oh wait…
It doesn’t matter because no one will be connecting to any metro any time in the next 2 decades.
Luas Red from Heuston to Abbey/O’ Connell, then switch to Metro.
….so now it takes 3 trains to get to Dublin Airport ?
Lugging luggage (sic) onto the LUAS on your way to the hols isn’t practical – and won’t win you any friends from the commuting community either……
Easier and cheaper to take the car.
have your say