A Fianna Fail councillor has released an election letter by Leo Varadkar committing to the implementation of the Metro North plan, which he later cancelled.

Cllr David McGuinness, recent runner-up in the Dublin West By-Election, published a copy of the Fine Gael election letter, which reveals a "significant message of commitment" to Metro North that Leo Varadkar gave in advance of the election in February.

Cllr McGuinness said: “It is hard to believe that Leo Varadkar could so brazenly cancel the Metro North project last week, when just over eight months ago he made a virtue of the fact that a vote for Fine Gael would be the best way to deliver Metro North. The letter, which I was given by an irate Swords resident yesterday, clearly stated: 'For the record, I strongly support Metro North’, and ‘On Friday, February 25th, a vote for Fine Gael is vote for a party that has a positive view of Metro North."

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Mr McGuiness said that it was "quite clear" that Leo Varadkar actively "duped" the people of Swords in the run-up to the last election.

"At the time he was involved in a great electoral auction which his Party colleagues were also engaged in throughout the country. Perhaps the most well-known of these is the betrayal by Enda Kenny on the issue of Roscommon Hospital."

Last week, Mr Varadkar announced that the planned Metro North and underground Dart services would be delayed until 2015 in order to make money available for health care and education.

However, Mr McGuiness said: "I would now call on Minister Varadkar to extend, at least, an apology to the people of Swords and the wider Dublin region for the clear deception of the people last February.”

(DW)