It has been announced that a new light rail system will serve Dublin Airport and beyond, as part of the Government's capital investment plan.
But what will it be like and how will it work?
It will have 14 new stops - six of which are underground - with an overall length of 17kms.
It will also have up to 30 trams per hour in each direction, with a tram every two minutes.
The trams will be 60 metres long - 50% longer than current Luas trams.
The Metro North will carry more than 30 million passengers per year, with a trip from O’Connell Street to the airport set to take just 19 minutes.
The line will cost approximately €2.4bn - excluding VAT - but construction will not start until 2021, and will take five to six years to complete.
The National Transport Authority (NTA) says it will bring "high capacity public transport to the Swords and Fingal area, which is one of the fasting growing areas of the country".
The new Metro North system | Image: NTA
It will also connect several third level institutions - Dublin City University, Trinity College and St Patrick’s College - as well as the Mater Hospital, Temple Street Children’s Hospital and the Rotunda.
The NTA says it will generate over 3,500 jobs during the construction phase.
Anne Graham, CEO of the NTA, said: "We have been examining the transportation requirements of this region in great detail for quite some time. It's a key growth zone in the country’s capital region, and it is important that the transport solution we invest in now is sufficiently robust to serve the growing population well for decades to come".
She added that the new Metro North scheme will be included in the NTA's proposed Transport Strategy for the Greater Dublin Area - which will be published in the coming weeks, and subject to public consultation.
In December 2014, the NTA published a short-list of six different options for consideration, and invited members of the public and other interested parties to participate in a public consultation on these options.
342 submissions were received and were analysed and the authority has concluded that the new Metro North option is best placed to serve the region’s needs over the medium term.
