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.
“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.
