A professor from Trinity College has been appointed to set up the new Dublin Transportation authority, it emerged today.
The authority will be responsible for co-ordinating the delivery of new metro, luas, train and bus services under the government's €34.4 billion transport
plan.
Minister for Transport Martin Cullen has appointed Dr Margaret O'Mahony, a professor of civil engineering at Trinity College, to head the team which will set up the authority.
She previously worked in the US with the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, and in developing countries on road programmes.
The other members of the team will include two assistant secretaries-general at the Department of Transport and Minister Cullen's special adviser, economist Colin Hunt.
The team will report to Mr Cullen on the structure of the new Dublin Transportation Authority (DTA) by the end of January.
Ms O'Mahony said one of her tasks would be to headhunt key people who had brought in major transport infrastructure on budget. "We have some of the groundwork done. I think that in a matter of months we can deliver something on the structure of the DTA," she said.
She said she was confident that the `very impressive' Transport 21 plan would be delivered without bringing Dublin in particular to a standstill. "It's the little things that bother people so I think we need much more focus on the day to day management of construction on the street," she said.
But Labour transport spokeswoman Roisin Shorthall said there was still an alarming lack of clarity as to what exact role the DTA would play. "The DTA certainly must be more broadly based than the team announced this weekend by Minister Cullen which is essential made up of a respected academic and a handful of civil servants. Most of all clarity is urgently required as to its role and powers," she said.
PA