The State has already spent around €30 million on buying property in Ranelagh to speed up the delivery of the MetroLink. 

Overall, €750 million has already been spent on the new rail line, which will link Ranelagh with North County Dublin, via the city centre and the airport. 

Not a single track has been laid but the State has already spent millions purchasing property to facilitate construction. 

While some of it will be demolished, a number of homes in Ranelagh's Dartmouth Square have been bought to speed up the State’s largest infrastructure project. 

“There was a legal challenge to it by some residents in Ranelagh near the Charlemont stop of the line,” Olivia Kelly of the Irish Times told The Claire Byrne Show. 

“Now, to effectively make that legal challenge go away, Transport Infrastructure Ireland decided that they would make them an offer to buy their houses. 

“It's Ranelagh; these are expensive properties, so altogether, that's coming in at around €30 million.”

Locals had raised concerns about the impact of congestion near their homes during construction. 

Fearing that a High Court challenge could stretch on for years, Ms Kelly said that officials decided that purchasing the properties was the simplest way of “making that go away”. 

Transport Infrastructure Ireland has bought a portion of the Hammerson site on O'Connell Street, which the organisation has “will make the construction of MetroLink easier”. 

The cost has not yet been confirmed but is understood to be in the tens of millions. 

“We know it was somewhere up to €80 million - this is a very big site,” Ms Kelly said. 

“Parts of this site in upper O'Connell Street have been derelict since the 1970s. 

“It would previously have been known as the Carlton site because it surrounds the former Carlton Cinema there on O'Connell Street, which is no longer there, but opposite the Savoy.”

An artist's impression of the Tara Street MetroLink station. Image: metrolink.ie

MetroLink is expected to cost the State between €7 and €12 billion, with planning for its construction now at an advanced stage. 

“They have their preparation for their planning application, their legal fees, you know, engineering reports, work in preparation for the development of the line - which is considerable,” Ms Kelly said. 

“So, you would expect it to be to be racking up the millions. 

“If you think about this project as well, it's been in progress for quite a number of years - so, those costs obviously have been accruing.”

Officials expect the MetroLink to carry its first passengers in the mid-2030s.

Main image: Dartmouth Square. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie.