Visions of how things could be are not, in general, one of our strong suits. Though some claim to have seen statues move and many Irish poets, playwrights and even patriots have not been lacking in their own visions, however perverse, we still seem to find it hard to visualise dramatic changes in the physical world, to imagine a daring plan and how it would change things on the ground.
We are also sceptical, and with good reason, of grandiose plans, because they are so seldom realised.
William Dargan, Ireland's great railway builder, was a man of unshakeable vision with the means to realise bold plans. He didn't have to endure years of interminable public consultation, of the type complained of in this page recently by the Dublin City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald.
Dargan got on with the job, opening up undreamt-of travel opportunities for ordinary people and leaving us with the legacy of a still quite extensive railway system - even after Todd Andrews and his equally narrow-minded political masters had whittled it down.
Because there were so many railway companies in the free-booting Victorian era, Dublin acquired a series of grand railway stations. In this it was no different from other cities: just think of the mainline stations in London and Paris.
What distinguishes Dublin is that we never managed to link them all together. Broadstone and Harcourt Street closed down, Connolly and Pearse are linked by the hideous Loop Line, and Heuston still stands in splendid isolation at the end of the quays.
In theory, Heuston is linked to Connolly via the Phoenix Park tunnel, but this route is used only by the occasional goods train and the track is in such bad condition that it cannot, without major upgrading, be used to bring the Kildare Arrow service as far as Amiens Street, thereby providing an interchange with the DART.
And because this almost-forgotten railway line loops around towards Connolly via Cabra Junction, even if a regular passenger service was introduced its value would be marginal in terms of penetrating the city centre.
ONE OF the more sensible elements of the Government's otherwise wrongheaded decision in May 1998 on the Luas light rail project was that the Tallaght line, which will pass right in front of Heuston Station, should be extended from Middle Abbey Street to Connolly.
CIE's light rail project team has just applied to the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, for an order to go ahead with this 800-metre extension, which includes a tram stop on Store Street, outside Busaras, and an interim terminus at Harbourmaster Place, in front of one of the main entrances to a radically-reorganised Connolly Station.
The intention is to extend light rail to the Docklands area, with a double-track running along the axis of Mayor Street as far the Point Depot on East Wall Road. This will be - indeed it already is - the spine for major new office, residential and other developments, notably the proposed National Conference Centre at Spencer Dock.
Gliding along the street, through the Docklands and elsewhere, Luas will provide an extremely attractive alternative to commuting by private car in increasingly congested traffic. That is why it was recommended by the Dublin Transportation Initiative.
As everyone knows, however, the DTI's 1994 traffic projections have been wildly superseded by a huge increase in car ownership, driven by the booming economy. Critics of the DTI strategy, such as the Unified Proposal group, always maintained that Dublin needed a high-capacity metro rather than an on-street light rail system, which they saw as a "poor man's project" dictated more by financial than operational considerations.
They will take enormous satisfaction from yesterday's report that a new blueprint for the development of the region's rail services is likely to include a metro line in the city centre.
This proposal must be differentiated from the madcap idea - adopted by the Government in May 1998 - of putting Luas underground between St Stephen's Green and Broadstone.
That is being planned merely to ensure that precious road space will not be taken away from private motorists on key city centre arteries, such as Dawson Street. It will do nothing to increase the capacity of the light rail line running between Sandyford and Ballymun, yet it could cost several hundred million pounds. What is now being proposed is a horse of a different colour: DART-type trains running underground.
THE key to it is a second cross-river rail link, as recommended by the Strategic Planning Guidelines for the Greater Dublin area, published earlier this year. Fol lowing up on an idea put forward by Dublin Chamber of Commerce, and borrowed by Fine Gael, this strategic river crossing downstream from the Loop Line has hitherto been understood as a simple connection between Spencer Dock, on the North Wall, and the planned DART station at Barrow Street, in the Grand Canal Docks.
However, in what can only be described as a classic piece of lateral thinking, it could be taken underground to Westland Row instead.
By extending it, in twin-bored tunnels, to St Stephen`s Green, Dame Street, Wood Quay and Heuston, Dublin would end up with its own Circle Line, with the trains continuing on through the Phoenix Park tunnel to Cabra Junction and back through Spencer Dock. Such a line would intercept every public transport route into the city centre - DART, other suburban rail services, Luas and the various bus corridors.
It could also be plugged into a planned rail link to Dublin Airport, which a joint report by CIE and Aer Rianta has recommended should branch off the Sligo line, running out from Spencer Dock.
Twelve years ago, the original plan to extend the DART to Tallaght and create a new central station underground in Temple Bar was vetoed by the then Government on cost grounds, but Ireland is wealthy now and the State's coffers are laden with loot.
We think nothing of putting a four-lane dual-carriageway largely underground to provide an access route for Dublin Port; though it may run to £3-£400 million, who is even counting the cost? Rail tunnels to accommodate DART-type trains are much tighter in diameter - just 4.5 metres - so the cost per kilometre should be lower.
Major excavations would be required for underground stations at St Stephen's Green, the Central Bank plaza, the Civic Offices and Heuston, but the latest plan has such symmetry that the Government cannot walk away from it. There is now a general acceptance that serious money needs to be put into public transport. Perhaps the Cabinet should take a trip to Paris and have a look at the Meteor, its superb new metro line. Then, perhaps, they might be able to visualise what is possible by the exercise of political will.