In December, 19 residents of Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh withdrew judicial review proceedings after Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) agreed to purchase 10 properties.
While no sale price has been agreed, Mr Sweeney says each of the residents have agreed to the process.
Mr Sweeney confirmed that they have also offered to buy another five properties in the area after people raised concerns about the impact of construction. The houses involved will back on to the proposed station at Charlemont.
“If you’re asking me to guestimate, it’ll be more than €30m,” he said.
Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh. Photo: Steve Humphreys
News in 90 seconds Friday, January 23
“Whether they end up selling is their choice. We’ve also agreed to buy five others around that area for similar reasons. There could be more properties added to that list as we go forward.”
Mr Sweeney, who is programme director of Metrolink, has insisted that this move will be “for the greater good”.
He said he believes the objection to the railway line was based people being “genuinely concerned about the impact on their lives”.
“I’m absolutely convinced they were. I don’t think they woke up one day just deciding to object to the project, but they are, you could say, at the hard edge of an issue that is really important for Ireland. It’s a really hard conversation, it’s about what is the greater good. The greater good actually means people do well out of it and a bigger group of people don’t do well out of it.”
Mr Sweeney described the withdrawal of judicial review proceedings as “an outstanding result for everyone” which has given the market confidence.
He said international firms have been turning down investment opportunities in Ireland because of the planning system.
After reaching an agreement with Dartmouth residents, TII is now working with coming up with new estimates as to when construction will be completed. This is due to be presented to the Government in March.
Mr Sweeney said that he is hopeful that construction work will get underway in late 2027.
“Last year was a year of enormous growth and progress in the job and we went from a period of no support, no backing, no market credibility at all, and I didn’t have a team.. Now we have one of the world’s best teams, we have complete political support and we have a railway order and the construction market lined up wanting to bid. It’s a really exciting time for Dublin and for Ireland.”