CITIES such as Cork, Waterford and Galway face a substantial wait to find out if they will get directly elected mayors with budgetary and planning powers.

Dubliners could be hit with a congestion charge when the city’s first directly elected mayor takes office in five years' time.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has published details of the long-awaited Dublin Transport Authority, which will oversee traffic management and infrastructure developments in the capital and surrounding areas.

The Government is due to unveil details today of the long-awaited Dublin Transport Authority.

John Gormley today outlined his plans for a major overhaul of local government since its introduction by the British government in 1898.

THE Dáil finally returns from its six-week Christmas break today in the manner in which it left off — overwhelmed by the Mahon Tribunal and under-occupied with legislation.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern would save 640 calories a day — simultaneously taking a kilogram of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere — if in 2008 he took advice from a new commuters’ website and walked to work.

CORK could become the first city outside Dublin to have a Luas system as Transport Minister Noel Dempsey yesterday revealed a feasibility study on having a light rail system in the city was at an advanced stage.

BUSINESSMAN Tom Mulcahy, the chairman-designate of the Dublin Transport Authority (DTA), could get paid up to €74,000 for 62 days’ work.

Fine Gael has proposed an emergency plan to tackle traffic congestion in Dublin, ahead of a ban on Heavy Goods Vehicles in the city centre.

JULITTA CLANCY (Irish Examiner letters, December 4) highlighted the future transport needs of the greater Dublin region.

A STANDOFF between two of Dublin’s largest transport agencies over a small stretch of track is stalling plans to connect the city’s Luas lines.

TRANSPORT worker unions have threatened industrial action in the run-up to Christmas if the Government does not delay its deadline for proposals on the new Dublin Transport Authority.

A PROPOSED new rail line directly linking major population centres in west Dublin with Dublin Airport should persuade many car users to avoid using the M50, according to Transport Minister Martin Cullen.

THE State body with current responsibility for the development of a Metro for Dublin has hit out at plans by the Transport Minister, Martin Cullen, to replace it with a new agency.

A NEW super-authority is to assume responsibility for implementing the Government’s €14 billion programme to improve public transport services in the greater Dublin region.

The Green Party has welcomed today's Report for the Establishment of a Dublin Transport Authority but criticised the Transport Minister Martin Cullen TD for the long delay in setting up an institutional framework for transport management in the Greater Dublin Area.

Minister for Transport Martin Cullen will reportedly announce details of the workings of the planned new Dublin Transportation Authority (DTA) later today.

THE Government is to open up the Dublin bus market to competition in coming months by tendering out routes to private operators.

THE bitter Coalition row over part-privatising Dublin’s bus routes intensified last night as the PDs went on the offensive.

Employees at the Dublin Transportation Office (DTO) are considering whether to hold a strike ballot over fears for the future of their jobs.

AFTER receiving assurances that an extra 260 buses will be provided, the National Bus and Rail Union yesterday called off its planned nationwide stoppage this evening.

A major bus strike that threatened to leave thousands of commuters stranded across the country tomorrow has been called off.

Thousands of commuters across Ireland will be left stranded on Thursday night when bus drivers go on strike.

A LEADING campaigner for the development of regional transport last night warned against a head-in-the-sand attitude to the ending of the Shannon stopover with the advent of Open Skies on transatlantic flights.

Dr Margaret O'Mahony, professor of civil engineering at Trinity College Dublin, has been appointed to lead a high-powered team to help implement the Government's €34.4 billion Transport 21 plan, unveiled by Transport Minister Martin Cullen last week.

THE woman charged with heading up the country’s ambitious transport plan last night pledged she would not let central Dublin become a giant building site for the next 10 years.

The Minister for Transport has announced the team responsible for setting up the Dublin Transport Authority.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen appears to be suffering from a serious lapse in memory, judging by his recently declared intention to set up a Dublin Transport Authority.

THE Government’s failure to live up to its transport commitments was attacked yesterday as Martin Cullen became the third Fianna Fáil transport minister in a row to promise a transport authority for Dublin.