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The Guardian
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Dublin is the only large European capital without a metro: what would Leopold Bloom make of that?
Ireland's planning body, An Bord Pleanála, will determine later this year the fate of an ambitious proposal to build the country's first underground railway. Residents of the Irish capital won't be holding their breath, however. Since it was first proposed 25 years ago, MetroLink has been cancelled, revived and rebranded. The latest version of the plan, which involves just 18.8km of track, has been subject to delays, costs that have spiralled to five times the original estimate, and fierce opposition from homeowners, heritage bodies and businesses. A wide-awake city of tech firms, theatres and tourist attractions, Dublin is one of the EU's richest metropolitan areas; it is also the only large western European capital without a metro. No Dubliner would have been more frustrated with the situation's absurdities, and MetroLink's slow progress, than Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce's Ulysses. Transport is never far from Bloom's thoughts as he traverses the city on 16 June 1904. His wife Molly's infidelity, the death of his friend Paddy Dignam, and fatherhood are uppermost in the advertising canvasser's mind, but he also repeatedly ruminates on a plan to build 'a tramline along the North Circular from the cattle market to the quays'. What begins as a passing observation about the scheme's likely impact on property prices near his home on Eccles Street becomes a fully fledged policy proposal by the day's end. Ulysses is a peripatetic story. For 17 or so hours, Bloom walks across Dublin, encountering friends, acquaintances and foes. From his 'sober' morning stroll down Westland Row, where he meets the disreputable CP M'Coy, to the 'parallel courses' that he and the inebriated poet Stephen Dedalus follow from Beresford Place to Eccles Street, Bloom covers nearly nine miles on foot. It is little wonder how tired he is by the time he climbs into bed next to Molly. A first-rate flâneur, Bloom is also a keen student of Dublin transport, which continually vexes him. On Westland Row, he is distracted from M'Coy's tedious talk by a white-stockinged woman leaving the Grosvenor hotel. When a 'heavy tramcar honking its gong' obscures his line of sight, Bloom curses the driver's 'noisy pugnose'. Later that evening, the adman witnesses a drunken altercation between Dedalus and his disloyal companion, Buck Mulligan, at Westland Row station. Concerned for Dedalus's safety, Bloom follows the young man to Nighttown, but the good samaritan misses his stop. By the time Bloom reaches Dublin's red-light district, Dedalus is about to have his jaw bashed in by two British soldiers. These are not the only instances in Ulysses in which the city's transport system is uncooperative. At Nelson's pillar, a hoarse-voiced timekeeper dispatches trams with great energy for Rathgar and Terenure, Sandymount Green and Palmerston Park. However, the trams soon stand motionless after a power cut. As 'Hackney cars, cabs, delivery waggons, mailvans, private broughams' and 'aerated mineral water floats' rattle by, the traffic that Bloom seeks to alleviate with his plan worsens. 'I can't make out why the corporation doesn't run a tramline from the parkgate to the quays. All those animals could be taken in trucks down to the boats,' suggests Bloom to his fellow mourners, as Dignam's funeral cortege crawls to Glasnevin cemetery. The tramline should be extended there, Bloom adds, to run 'municipal funeral trams like they have in Milan'. Bloom's passion for public works is longstanding and not surprising for a character who in his youth had considered standing for parliament and who in Joyce's imagination subscribed to 'the collective and national economic programmes' of radical Irish nationalists. Although Bloom's political fervour has waned, he remains a nationalist. To him, nationalism is not about the Irish language, which he doesn't speak, or political violence, which he abhors. It is about the opportunity to govern Ireland for the better, starting with infrastructure. In pre-independence Ireland, British power is ever present in Dublin on 16 June 1904. It is also palpably decaying. The viceregal cavalcade carrying the king's representative in Ireland through the city goes 'unsaluted' by a resident pondering whether it is quicker to get to Phibsborough 'by a triple change of tram or by hailing a car or on foot'. Here again, Dublin's system of public transport is found wanting, but the viceroy is neither interested nor empowered to act. In Nighttown, Bloom experiences a frightening phantasmagoria in which he is suddenly appointed lord mayor of Dublin. His immediate suggestion that the city builds a tramline 'from the cattlemarket to the river' provokes vigorous nods from the assembled aldermen, but the crowd soon threaten Bloom with boiling oil. Back home in Eccles Street, Bloom gives free rein to his political imagination as part of a bedtime ritual which produces 'sound repose and renovated vitality'. However, his train of thought soon circles back to what has by now become a detailed policy prospectus for the new tramline. The scheme will be funded, he suggests, by 'graziers' fees' and guaranteed by 'eminent financiers'. Ulysses's fixation with transport minutiae doesn't just provide colour and comic relief. It carries Joyce's own hopes for a new Ireland that realises its potential. Through his increasingly intricate tram scheme, Bloom symbolises the sort of progressive reformer that the writer believes can cure the country's political paralysis. Molly Bloom, in contrast, embodies Joyce's simultaneous fear that Irish politics will forever be all talk. Her husband's sermons about Sinn Féin are no more than 'trash and nonsense', she suggests. Public investment and technology have transformed Dublin for the better since 1904, but Leopold Bloom would still recognise its transport system's many deficiencies. Its cost. Its patchy coverage. Its occasional power cuts. Recent studies suggest that the Irish capital is one of the most congested cities in the world and that its public transport is among the least affordable in Europe. From London's Crossrail to the Grand Paris Express, European cities are upgrading their public transport systems, but Ireland's notoriously centralised governing structures have left its capital with limited say over its own development. An elected mayor would help, but this idea is no closer to reality than during Bloom's fevered visit to Nighttown. After 25 years of talk, MetroLink needs to see light at the end of the tunnel soon. However frustrated Bloom would have been over the project's delays, he would have nodded vigorously at its proposed route, especially the section from Glasnevin to Mater station on his own Eccles Street. Now, if only the planners insisted on livestock wagons and funeral cars, Dublin would have a scheme worthy of its most famous fictional resident and the 'world's greatest reformer'. Dermot Hodson is professor of political economy at Loughborough University and the author of Circle of Stars: A History of the EU – and the People Who Made It
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Engineering consultancy Ramboll interested in Metrolink bid
Engineering consultancy Ramboll has expressed an interest in bidding for work on the Dublin metro , the proposed rail line connecting the city centre with its airport , says one of the firm's executives. Denmark-based Ramboll specialises in transport development among other areas and is involved in work for the Government and State airports company, DAA . Ann Gordon, the firm's market director for transport in the UK and Ireland, says Ramboll would be interested in working on Metrolink, as the project is now known. 'There is no doubt that we would want to be involved with a project like Metrolink,' Ms Gordon said. READ MORE The Government has pledged that the project, debated for decades, is going to happen. Transport Infrastructure Ireland 's plan, submitted to An Bord Pleanála , connects Charlemont on the capital's southside with Swords and north Co Dublin, via the city centre and the airport. It ties in the Luas, the Dart and existing rail services. However, the time taken to get this far with the project, a cost estimated at up to €23 billion and potential planning objections mean many are sceptical about the prospect of any Metrolink being completed by the 2035 target date. Ms Gordon says the proposed rail line was badly needed. 'When you arrive in Dublin Airport, what it's lacking is that connectivity with the centre of the capital,' she said. Dublin is one of the few European capital cities not to have a direct rail link with its airport. However, the number of buses serving the airport from the city and other centres has grown in recent years. The Ramboll executive also said that the 32 million a year passenger limit on Dublin Airport needs to be addressed. Legal action has suspended the limit, and the airport expects to handle about 36 million passengers this year, but the condition, imposed by planners in 2007 to control road traffic, remains in place. Ramboll works regularly with Dublin and Cork airports operator, DAA, as well as Transport Infrastructure Ireland and the Government. The Department of Transport recently hired the company to advise on electric vehicle infrastructure. That work will involve comparisons with five other EU cities, financial analysis, procurement and risk assessments, the company has said. It is also working on the A5 dual carriageway, linking Derry with the N2 to Dublin. Ms Gordon is based in St Alban's in Britain but comes originally from Co Carlow, so is familiar with the transport challenges the State faces. Owned by the Ramboll Foundation and its workers, who have around 3 per cent of the business, Ramboll is a global architecture, engineering and consultancy business with operations in 35 countries. The company's key areas of expertise include building, transport, energy, environment, water management, architecture and landscape.
Irish Times
11-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Government to examine Metrolink cost estimates after project director predicts big overrun
The Government is to examine the estimated costs of the Dublin Metrolink project after its new director said the underground rail system could cost 20 per cent more than its projected budget of €9.5 billion. New Zealander Sean Sweeney has also said the Metro project, which would connect Dublin Airport to the city centre, was unlikely to be completed by 2035 and that it would result in 'grievous' disruption to people during the construction phase. Dr Sweeney was also critical of the Irish planning system, saying he had noticed since coming to Ireland that things take longer. 'I think planning has to go back to a time like it was in the 1970s or 1980s, maybe with a few more checks and balances,' he said in an interview with The Business Post. READ MORE 'But the situation in Ireland, where pretty well anyone can object to anything and stop it for six months or nine months, is not good for Ireland.' Asked for a response to the comments, Minister for Transport Darragh O'Brien said the costs would be examined in detail, but that the project was a high priority for the Government. 'The Metrolink is a critically important project, not just for the airport and the region but nationally too. I want to see construction work begin on the Dublin Metro during this term of Government,' he said. 'There is a variance in the cost projections and that's something that will be looked at in detail before we proceed with the construction of the project in advance of the tendering process. 'It will drive further revenues for Ireland and will pay for itself in time. There needs to be further investment in infrastructure to ensure growth in Ireland and to underpin a modern economy.' It was first interview given by Dr Sweeney, who is paid €550,000 a year, since taking up his role as programme director last year. He also highlighted a concern about securing a large international contractor for the project, as no Irish contractor would have the capacity to construct it. [ Michael McDowell: There's a simple reason why building projects - from the petty to the transformative - take so long in Ireland Opens in new window ] He said if he did not secure an adequate response from the international construction market, then 'we're dead in the water'. Labour leader Ivana Bacik said her party was very much committed to the introduction of the Metrolink but would be seeking clarity from Government on the extent of the anticipated over-runs. Her colleague Dublin Central TD Marie Sherlock said delays had not been caused only by people objecting to planning but also by the project team in the past. She said was there was an onus on those involved to get their 'ducks in a row'. Fingal East TD Duncan Smith said the 'rightly critical' things Dr Sweeney had said about the planning process should not be taken as 'just another reason to bash the Metrolink'. 'Dr Sweeney has said it is a project that can change a nation, and we also believe it will,' he said. The Labour TDs were all speaking in Arbour Hill, Dublin, on Sunday in advance of the annual James Connolly commemoration. The new Oireachtas Committee on Infrastructure, which is expected to be one of the most powerful in the 34th Dáil, is expected to hold hearings on the Metrolink project early in its tenure. It is chaired by Laois Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming .
