The future of an initiative aimed at cutting Dublin's traffic problems is in doubt this week following the resignation of Ivor Callely as junior minister in the Department of Transport.
The Department said work on the Clare Street Initiative (CSI) would continue and Mr Callely himself said he hoped benefits would "come quickly" from the forum, but a source who attended the inaugural meeting cast doubt on its future.
The senior source involved in the CSI, which met in October, told The Irish Times: "It's a case of CSI RIP. It represented quite a good forum for discussion but Ivor was making it a PR exercise.When we turned up at the workshops every TV crew in the city was there," the source said. "The new guy will no doubt want to put his stamp on it."
The CSI - named after the location of the ex-minister of state's office - was set up by the Fianna Fáil TD in October in an effort to find easy-to-implement schemes to ease traffic congestion in the capital. At its first meeting in Clontarf Castle a total of 37 proposals were put forward.
The proposals included a scheme where cars approaching red lights at otherwise empty junctions at night would see the lights switch to green, rather than having cars sitting waiting for the lights to change.
Another suggestion was that an "amber start" be introduced into the traffic light sequence, as operates in Britain and Northern Ireland.
Other measures suggested included a car-sharing scheme; staggering school opening times to separate rush-hour workers from parents taking children to school; the development of safe routes for parents to walk their children to school and "contra" flows in which a central lane switches direction depending on whether it is morning rush or evening rush.
None of these plans has been implemented to date but, according to a Department of Transport spokeswoman, work on them will continue.
"When the new minister of state has been appointed he or she will be looking at the brief and looking at areas he or she wants to pursue. They will be having discussions with senior management in the Department."
She added: "It would not be true to say that the CSI or the proposals made under it are up in the air. They are being advanced as much as they actually can."
Mr Callely resigned in controversy last week after it emerged a large building firm had paid for the redecoration of his house in the early 1990s. Speaking about the CSI this week he told The Irish Times: "I was delighted to set up what was an innovative idea. It should work and hopefully the benefits will come quickly, as that was the idea in the first place."
He added: "The people who sat around the table with me will want to drive it."
It is now thought likely that the Taoiseach will not appoint a replacement for Mr Callely until after the Christmas recess. The favourites are Seán Haughey, Pat Carey and Jim Glennon.
