Dear Sir, – On 12 August, the Irish Times reported that the public consultation on MetroLink had been reopened five months after the Bord Pleanála hearing closed (“Public consultation to reopen long-awaited MetroLink opening in Dublin”).

This will continue until the beginning of October.

This is because Transport Infrastructure Ireland released additional documentation during the previous public consultation, necessitating a second round.

In any case, this has delayed the project progress by several months.

With inflation in the construction sector at 11.5 percent in 2022 and 3.9 percent in 2023, the cost of a six-month delay (assuming an inflation rate of 3.9 percent) would amount to around EUR 185 million, even if the net effect on the project’s progress is only six months.

This is a timely reminder of two things: (1) we need to think about the value of extensive public consultation around important infrastructure that most of us simply want to see completed, and (2) the enormous financial costs of even small mistakes in implementation.

Consider this my contribution to the consultation: please hurry up and stop wasting public money. – Best regards,

EOIN MacLACHLAN,

Temple Lodge,

Dublin 6W.