Dublin's Metrolink project could go 40% over budget and leave many homes ‘grievously impacted'
The
Metrolink
, Dublin's proposed underground railway, could go 40 per cent over budget and leave many homes and businesses 'grievously impacted', its programme director has warned.
In his first interview since taking office, Dr Sean Sweeney, the New Zealand mega-project engineer, told the Business Post that the most recent 2021 cost estimates of €9.6 billion will have risen due to construction inflation and that the 2035 deadline is likely to be missed.
'Now since 2021 we have had well north of 20 per cent construction escalation. So do the math,' Sweeney said. 'The price is going to be some result of that simple multiplication. But we're doing that work now.'
Sweeney said the Government will have to face down fierce public opposition to Dublin's MetroLink as it impacts on communities.
READ MORE
'I deliver what I call 'nation-building projects', which make countries better. You leave the country better off. But that doesn't mean everyone is untouched. Some people get touched. Some people get grievously impacted. But the nation or the city is better off,' Sweeney said.
Distilleries pause production as uncertainty grows amid US tariff tensions
The vast majority of distilling in Ireland has been paused as US trade tension and heightened competition combine to hit the spirits sector, according to the co-founder of one of the country's most successful distilleries, a report in the Sunday Indepedent reveals.
Pat Rigney, who co-founded Drumshanbo Gin-producer The Shed Distillery alongside his wife, Denise, said many of the country's distilleries were going through a tough time with most distilleries temporarily halting production. Pauses were happening across the industry, he added, hitting large and small distilleries alike.
'I think since January 20, the world has changed with the new US administration,' he said. 'That was then but now we are in a different world, a very uncertain world.
'I'm not sure if you are aware, but the vast majority of distilling in Ireland has paused at the moment due to the challenges.'
Irish data centre builder Echelon to expand in Europe, eyeing up sites in Italy and Spain
Irish data centre builder Echelon has been seeking out sites in mainland Europe for new centres as part of an expansion strategy, the Business Post reports.
Damien Gaynor, the company's chief marketing officer, said the company intended to build in Spain and Italy. He was speaking to the
Business Post
after the launch of a €3.5 billion data centre project in Arklow, Co Wicklow.
Echelon's business model is to build centres and then rent to a tech giant. It is led by property developer Niall Molloy.
It has a number of data centres in Dublin, including one in Clondalkin, used by social media giant Tik Tok.
However, growth in the Dublin region has stagnated due to a moratorium on data centres.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Sky Ireland tells court it is not obliged to give end of contract notice
The communications regulator. ComReg, is seeking High Court orders requiring Sky Ireland Ltd to end its practice of automatically renewing customers' contracts without first informing them their contracts are about to end and of alternative tariffs. ComReg claims Sky is in breach of 2022 European Union regulations requiring communications service providers to inform consumers in a prominent and timely manner of the end of the contractual commitment and means by which to terminate the contract. It says Sky is also contravening the regulations by failing to provide consumers with 'best tariff advice' before the contract is automatically prolonged. Sky is the only one of the five big providers refusing to do so, ComReg says. Sky disputes ComReg's interpretation of the relevant legal provisions and says they only apply to contracts with a fixed duration. Its customers' contracts are subscription contracts of indeterminate duration, it says. READ MORE The regulations, Sky argues, are designed to address the potential harm of consumers getting automatically prolonged in the contract for a second term without their knowledge. This harm does not arise in relation to Sky customers as its contracts do not follow this type of model in Ireland, it argues. It also says the ultimate interpretation of the regulations is for the courts to decide. On Monday, Mr Justice Mark Sanfey admitted Comreg's proceedings against Sky to the fast track Commercial Court on the application of Eoin McCullough SC, for the regulator, and on consent from Andrew Fitzpatrick SC, for Sky. The case was adjourned to December. In an affidavit seeking entry of the case to the commercial list, Miriam Kilraine, ComReg compliance operations manager, said the purpose of end of contract information and best tariff advice, when a contract is nearing end and about to be 'auto-prolonged', is that customers are afforded an opportunity of making an informed decision to stay with their current provider on the same or different package or to switch to a new provider. This is important particularly as customers may be losing discounts and therefore incurring higher prices and, in the case of Sky customers, this could include bundled TV, broadband and telephone services, she said. As part of its review and enforcement functions, ComReg began an investigation last September and Virgin Media, Eircom, Three and Vodafone all confirmed they are in compliance but Sky said it did not do so. Further investigations into Sky followed and in December Sky said it would not be complying because of its interpretation of the regulations. Ms Kilraine said it is clear there is a fundamental disagreement between the parties regarding the interpretation of the relevant legal provisions in this case. It is ComReg's position that Sky has failed and continues to fail to comply with its obligations under the 2022 regulations, she said. She also said Sky's UK arm, Sky UK Ltd, has taken a different position to its Irish counterpart and provides best tariff information to its customers. Th followed enforcement action against Sky UK by the UK watchdog, Ofcom, in 2021 which concluded in Ofcom's favour last December, Ms Kilraine said.
Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
Brexit was ‘single stupidest thing a country's ever done'
Brexit was 'the single stupidest thing any country's ever done,' businessman and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has said. Speaking at an event to launch Bloomberg's new offices in Dublin, Mr Bloomberg said part of Ireland's recent economic success had come courtesy of Brexit with more companies choosing to locate their European hubs here as a result because of the UK's departure. He highlighted how 20 of the top 25 financial services companies had hubs in Ireland alongside most of the top US tech firms. Mr Bloomberg also claimed that Ireland and the US, under president Donald Trump, had switched roles economically. READ MORE 'Ireland is the one that's growing and America is the one that's worried about growth,' he said. The three-time mayor of New City and founder of Bloomberg media group said the US was in a difficult situation politically and was in danger of throwing away the political and economic capital it had built up over decades with other countries. 'America has just spent the last 70 years trying to build relationships with other countries ... and we're throwing away a lot of that ... which I just can't explain,' he said. Mr Bloomberg said he was not a supporter of the current US administration and disagreed strongly with the policies being pursued by Mr Trump 'Although I know Donald Trump and I've known him for 30 or 40 years ... when I was mayor of New York, he was a real estate developer in New York City and only went bankrupt six times,' he said. Mr Bloomberg has a tetchy relationship with the current White House incumbent and has previously called him in a 'pathological liar' and a 'barking clown' while Mr Trump deprecatingly refers to him as 'Mini Mike'. 'He's a pleasant guy if you sat and had dinner with him, having said that I don't agree with his policies at all,' Mr Bloomberg said. Highlighting the deeply partisan nature of the US politics, he said he had endeavoured to keep Bloomberg as editorially balanced as possible 'with the same number of conversative and liberal reporters' while staying out of politics himself. Mr Bloomberg ran for the US presidency as a Democrat in 2020. He said Bloomberg had doubled its Irish workforce to 150 in the last two years and the Dublin office located in the recently developed Charlemont Square scheme in Dublin city centre was now one of its largest in Europe. The Dublin office has plans to take on a further 25 staff, mainly in the engineering category. Mr Bloomberg claimed Ireland's success in attracting business was partly down to the high level of students entering STEM courses. At 32 per cent, he said this was double the rate of US students going into science and technology courses and the highest rate in the EU in per capita terms. 'So it's not just the regulatory environment that is attractive to employers here. First and foremost it's the quality of the workforce, educated, skilled, English-speaking,' he said
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Law firm Matheson elects Darren Maher as new managing partner
Irish law firm Matheson has elected Darren Maher as the firm's new managing partner. He will take on the role following the completion of Michael Jackson's final term at the end of the year. Mr Maher currently heads the firm's financial institutions group (FIG) and co-leads its corporate department., He joined Matheson following his graduation from UCD in 2003 and has spent his entire career with the firm. He has been a partner since 2012, being promoted to head of FIG in 2017, and later joining David Fitzgibbon atop the corporate department. 'I am delighted to have been appointed by my peers to lead Matheson during its next period of growth and development,' Mr Maher said. READ MORE 'In today's rapidly changing business and geopolitical environment, clients require expert advice in order to succeed,' he added, noting his desire to continue to position Matheson as 'the firm to which clients go for advice on the most complex and high-profile matters'. [ Lawyers strike gold as Russia's plane seizures spark lucrative litigation in Dublin Opens in new window ] Commenting on Mr Jackson's tenure as managing partner, Mr Maher said: 'The significant growth which the firm has experienced under his tenure is a testament to his outstanding leadership and vision.' Mr Jackson described the 10 years he spent as managing partner of Matheson as a 'great honour'r. He said Mr Maher was 'ideally positioned to lead Matheson through its next phase of growth'. 'I am confident that the firm will continue to go from strength to strength under his leadership,' he said. Established in 1825 in Dublin, Matheson also has offices in Cork, London, New York, Palo Alto and San Francisco. According to its website, it has almost 900 people work across its six offices, including 127 partners and tax principals and more than 600 legal, tax and digital services professionals.
