ISSUES: The word "crisis" is freely bandied about these days: on waste, homelessness, hospital waiting lists, the peace process, to name a few. But for one issue - traffic congestion and public transport - the word can't be overused. For many a simple journey to work is often a crisis. But the saga of the new Dublin city road signs isn't all downhill, says Patrick Logue
We have a road system comprising of a so-far unconnected network of motorways and a train system which admits that it's "not there yet, but we're getting there". The Luas system has been talked about for Dublin since 1994, and still the capital is second only to Calcutta in a recent survey on journey times.
The Speed of Business survey, carried out by the Small Firms Association (SFA), showed an average of 57 minutes for 5 kilograms of goods to travel 5 kilometres in Dublin. That's three times longer than in New York and more than four times longer than in London, where the average journey time was 13 minutes. Only Calcutta, where the journey took 4½ hours, ranked below Dublin.
The recently-appointed Minister for Transport, whose task it is to sort it all out, is a brave man indeed to take on such a poisoned chalice. But Seamus Brennan did himself no favours last week in his public run-in with Dublin City Council over those multi-coloured sign system which appeared and then disappeared overnight.
We were told that his department didn't know of the new traffic plan of the transportation and traffic strategic policy committee of Dublin City Council. Motorists knew little of it either. The plan was welcomed by the AA, Dublin Bus and cyclist groups, as well as Dublin's Lord Mayor, Councillor Dermot Lacey.
For his part Mr Brennan was not best pleased at the lack of consultation with his department. Nor did he like the signs - and who could blame him? The design was chaotic, even mystifying.
This issue now seems to have been resolved and Dubliners await the next twist of the saga and the erection of new, clearer signs.
However, the City Council is to be commended for its intentions. The idea is to create a road circle around the city - the outer orbital route signified by the purple signs - thereby freeing the city centre for necessary traffic only and pedestrians. Last week traffic congestion on O'Connell Street was cut by 50 per cent, the council claims. Good news.
However, the debacle did nothing for public confidence in the Government's handling of the traffic crisis and in Mr Brennan, on whom many had pinned their hopes to sort out the mess once and for all.
"This week's response does not bode well for the Minister," says Fine Gael spokesman Denis Naughten. "If he can't sort out this mess, how can he sort out the other problems in Dublin and around the country?
"But you can't lay the blame at Seamus Brennan's door at this stage, although he has failed to get a grip on the situation. Ministers Noel Dempsey and Bobby Molloy did nothing over the past five years to deal with the problem."
Naughten believes a review of the National Development Plan figures and a review of the State's infrastructure are needed to assess what needs to be done. A first step would be to open up rail lines now used for freight only to commuters between Dublin's Heuston and Connolly stations. Another line serving the International Financial Service Centre should be used for commuters.
Naughten also believes bus services should be entirely opened up to competition to reduce the number of services unnecessarily passing through Dublin city centre.
Ciaran Cuff of the Green party says the Government is trying to solve the problem of traffic congestion by "throwing motorways at the situation. Instead two-thirds of transport spending should go on public transport and one-third on roads." By building motorways between Ireland's towns and cities "we are storing up problems for future years", he says.
The Green spokesman would blame Seamus Brennan - "he promised a tram system for Dublin over a decade ago." Mr Brennan was Minister for Tourism and Transport between 1989 and 1999 and Minister for Transport and Communications in 1991 and 1992.
Cuff believes Zurich, which has high car ownership and low car usage, could be a model for Dublin. He also believes congestion charges should be considered. Such a measure is due to be introduced in London, where congestion and infighting are present in similar amounts to Dublin.
London's lord mayor Ken Livingstone has been given the green light to introduce a £5 charge for cars entering the city centre. The British Transport Minister, John Spellar, however, is not convinced and has said he may block the plan.
Labour's spokeswoman on transport, Joan Burton, says a congestion charge here would be unfair in the absence of a coherent and reliable public transport system. "You can't beat up motorists if there isn't a public option," she says.
Current Luas plans will have minimal effect on the bigger Dublin transport picture, says Ms Burton. Large parts of west Dublin will not be serviced for the foreseeable future.
The newly-formed Department of Transport is a good idea, she says, but "the Government hasn't given much consideration as to how it will work". The department brief was assigned to Brennan only in June. At the time the Taoiseach said it would have responsibility for roads, other than local roads, traffic, rail and bus, aviation and road safety.
"The building of a modern, quality transport network will best be achieved by bringing together the relevant functions under a single department dedicated to resolving those issues," Mr Ahern has said.
Motorists and pedestrians alike no doubt hope episodes such as the saga of the signs and the delay in the penalty points system are but teething problems in the Government's grand plan.