TRANSPORT MINISTER Noel Dempsey has insisted that the Dublin-Navan rail link will still be finished by 2016 – despite the project not being listed as a priority in yesterday’s capital spending plan.

Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1′s lunchtime news, Dempsey gave a “cast iron guarantee” that the project would be completed on time, saying the Railway Order – the equivalent of planning permission – would be submitted early next year.

The transport minister had come under criticism for the perceived shelving of the line, as Navan – which has not been served by passenger trains since 1963 – lies within his own constituency.

The link was not earmarked as priority project in yesterday’s €39bn capital spending programme, and was conspicuous by its absence in the list of projects which were put forward for immediate completion.

But the minister says that the money is there to complete the project, of which the first phase – the completion of the line to Clonsilla in North Dublin – is almost finished.

Earlier, Fine Gael attacked the government’s decision to cut €1bn in spending from the plan, claiming it was merely an easy way for the Government to save a third of the €3bn it needs to cut in December’s Budget.