The underground features a 7.6km tunnel described as the missing link that will integrate Dublin’s services

The Dart underground will not be built in the next ten years, the transport minister, Shane Ross, has said, confirming the government did not have the €4 billion needed to fund it.

There had been speculation that the project was not going ahead in the short term after it was not mentioned in the government’s Ireland 2040 plan.

The underground features a line from Inchicore on the south side of the capital to Spencer Dock in the north. The 7.6km tunnel has been described as the missing link that will integrate Dublin’s suburban rail services.

Mr Ross said not having such a link created a situation which was “antediluvian and ancient” but it would be tackled as cost-effectively as possible. He said the Dart underground