{"id":261485,"date":"2026-01-24T11:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/261485\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:14:12","slug":"buying-dartmouth-square-houses-in-ranelagh-to-cost-more-than-e30-million-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/261485\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying Dartmouth Square houses in Ranelagh \u2018to cost more than \u20ac30 million\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agreements have been made to purchase a number of homes along the proposed MetroLink<\/a> line, with the cost of procuring Dartmouth Square<\/a> properties alone estimated at more than \u20ac30 million, the programme\u2019s director has said<\/p>\n

Between 10 and 15 homes on the south Dublin square will be bought after mediation with residents there, said Se\u00e1n Sweeney, speaking on RT\u00c9\u2019s News At One. <\/p>\n

Homeowners had sought to bring a judicial review into the project, but on December 23rd it emerged that Dartmouth Square residents who took the proceedings would accept an offer from Transport Infrastructure Ireland to buy their homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project, set to be the largest infrastructure project in the State, was facing delay if the court action went ahead.<\/p>\n

Under the agreement property owners will be given the \u201coption\u201d to sell their houses which can be \u201cexercised\u201d in the next two years.<\/p>\n

The properties will be independently valued to provide a \u201cfair and transparent way of assessing the value\u201d, Mr Sweeney said, adding the total cost could be in excess of \u20ac30 million.<\/p>\n

Defending the move, Mr Sweeney said: \u201cWe\u2019re buying significant real estate that will maintain its value, and if anything will have a higher value once the station is complete.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re just paying money for something that disappears, at a point in time the houses will be resold, so it\u2019s not a loss to the State.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said delays to MetroLink could cost a billion euros a year and a judicial review could have delayed the project one to two years. <\/p>\n

Mr Sweeney added: \u201cIn terms of a business sense it\u2019s a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the concept of buying properties to facilitate the project is \u201cnot new\u201d and said offers have been made for other homes along the route. They include properties in the Dalcassian Downs apartment development in Glasnevin.<\/p>\n

Not every home along the line is eligible, Mr Sweeney said, as they have to meet a \u201cthreshold test\u201d before they will be considered for purchase. <\/p>\n

The timeline for when the MetroLink will begin construction has yet to be finalised, but Mr Sweeney said the first major construction is expected to start at the end of 2027. <\/p>\n

When asked how much the project is likely to cost, he said \u201cwe are updating our costs and our schedules\u201d and will update the Government in March. <\/p>\n

Mr Sweeney said it could be some time in the mid-2030s before people will be able to take a train to the airport. <\/p>\n

The route is designed to run from Swords, in north Dublin, to Charlemont, close to Ranelagh, in south Dublin. The route will have 16 stops serving areas including Dublin Airport, Ballymun, Glasnevin, Phibsborough and the city centre. \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agreements have been made to purchase a number of homes along the proposed MetroLink line, with the cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[615,61,60,29093,43,29094],"class_list":{"0":"post-261485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-dublin","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-metrolink","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-transport-infrastructure-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}