The Government has been accused of breaking its promise to build the first stage of a metro line in Dublin after the Taoiseach said such a link between the airport and the city will not now be built before 2007.
Responding to questions from the Green Party leader Mr Trevor Sargent in the Dáil this evening, Mr Ahern said the logistics of constructing the metro line are being examined, but that the cost would prevent the State investing in other transport initiatives in the capital.
The Green Party's transport spokesman, Mr Eamon Ryan, said the Government was breaking a promise made before the last election and included in the Programme for Government.
"In his response, the Taoiseach made it clear that the Dublin metro is unlikely ever to be approved by the current Cabinet," Mr Ryan said.
"The reality is that the projected construction cost of €1.3 billion for the metro is no more than the Government gave to the National Roads Authority (NRA) this year. The additional private financing costs of the project arise because the Government refused to provide any public money for the metro."
"The Rail Procurement Agency presented the business case for the metro to the Government almost two years ago. In the interim we have had nothing but indecision and waffle from the Taoiseach. At a time when oil prices have doubled and climate change is threatening the future of the planet, the Government's refusal to invest in public transport is a disgrace."
Fine Gael's transport spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said the news was "a complete breach of faith" by Bertie Ahern and his Government and epitomised all that was wrong with the Government's approach to infrastructural planning.
"This current Government went to the country with a full-colour, glossy London Underground-style metro plan a mere two years ago. How can the public, particularly commuters, believe anything this Government tells them?
"This makes a mockery of the Government's intention to solve Dublin's commuting problems, and will do nothing to help the thousands of commuters and Dublin Airport passengers looking for an answer. I cannot believe that the Taoiseach has now ruled out building a metro in the short term when it is such
an obvious solution to Dublin's commuting nightmare."