The construction of the MetroLink project will require around 8,000 workers, with some coming from abroad, the project's director has said.
Programme Director of MetroLink Sean Sweeney told the Oireachtas Committee on Transport that the major contracts for the project will go to international firms, as there were no firms within the Irish construction industry with the necessary scale and skills required for a project of this size.
He said these international firms would bring in workers from abroad for the duration of the construction.
Fine Gael TD for Dublin Fingal West Grace Boland called for a framework for housing the workers to be put in place in order to quickly and efficiently deliver the project.
Watch: MetroLink Programme Director Sean Sweeney says re-costing based on earlier designs
Mr Sweeney said the MetroLink team were working with the Land Development Agency on how to house the workers, and that they did not intend to take from existing housing plans.
He also told the committee that a complete re-costing of the project will be published early next year.
Mr Sweeney said that an original projected €9.5 billion cost of the project derived from figures taken between 2014 to 2019 before being "escalated up" in 2022.
He said they were suitable for the purpose they were used at the time, however, the team were now looking at a complete re-costing of the project, which will be published early next year.
However, the re-costing will be based on earlier MetroLink designs, Mr Sweeney said, as the updated tender designs will not be completed until next month.
Mr Sweeney added that an independent pricing firm is looking at their work while a firm called Oxford Global Projects is referencing what the project managers are doing against their cost base.
"We are doing all I think you could feasibly do to get a real and accurate cost," he said.
"It's been my experience that construction is a highly uncertain process. Projects like this are of an enormous scale and complexity and it is beyond human comprehension to identify every risk and complexity," he said.
Mr Sweeney was appointed to the role of programme director in June last year.
The New Zealander is the former CEO of City Rail Link, an under construction underground rail link in Auckland which is set to be operational in 2026.
The committee was also told that the projected cost of €9.5bn for the construction of MetroLink is "years old" and does not reflect significant construction industry inflation.
Chief Executive of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) Lorcan O’Connor warned that inflation along with other new requirements and commitments will influence the updated cost of the project.
He said the most recent estimated cost was taken from a business case in 2022.
"The MetroLink team are in the process of re-examining the overall cost forecast model.
"Once this has been completed and verified it will be presented to Government," he said in his opening statement to the Oireachtas Committee on Transport.
Mr O’Connor said TII were still working towards opening the metro by the mid-2030s.
