A final decision on a rail link to Dublin Airport and Swords from the city centre is expected before the Dáil rises in July with a report on the issue from the NTA due on the Minister for Transport's desk imminently.

The Fingal Independent understands that the NTA will produce a report on its preferred options for public transport links to Swords in the coming weeks, in time for the Minister for Transport to make an announcement before the Dáil rises for the summer recess.

Six options were explored by the NTA in a public consultation process earlier in the year that looked into heavy rail, light rail and bus only solutions to the public transport problems of the Fingal capital.

Two clear favourites have emerged out of that process - namely, a scaled down version of Metro North with less tunnelling and a north Dublin Luas line via Cabra to Dublin Airport and on to Swords.

These two options were favoured by the Rail Procurement Agency among others and are thought to be the frontrunners in the NTA report which is likely to hedge its bets and put forward more than one option for the cabinet to make the final decision.

Rumours were circulating that an announcement on the project may come as early as this week but that now seems unlikely with sources reporting to the Fingal Independent that the NTA report is still to be completed and presented to the minister.

The rumours of an imminent announcement were heightened with news that Taoiseach, Enda Kenny was visiting the constituency for a Fine Gael breakfast fundraiser in Malahide this week.

The two front-running options are, firstly, a Luas spur from Cabra and on to DCU, Dublin Airport and Swords and is effectively an extension of the cross-city Luas.

The other front-runner is 'Optimised Metro North', which is a stripped back version of the original Metro North project, removing some of the stations on the city centre side and costing about €500 million less than the original proposal.

Fingal Independent