OVER a dozen planned public transport projects have been postponed as a result of cutbacks totalling more than €500 million introduced by the Government since last October’s budget.

It will be at least two years before the Government reconsiders proposals for two major bypasses around Dublin, it was confirmed today.

THE Dáil broke for a six-week Christmas holiday yesterday with the Government accused of lacking the leadership needed to cut short the break.

GOVERNMENT departments and agencies will spend at least €30 million on advertising in 2008, despite a much-hyped promise to cut spending on it and on consultants in a bid to control the massive budget deficit.

LANDOWNERS are facing significant disruption after the selection of a preferred route for a proposed €1 billion superhighway between Cork and Limerick.

The proposed M3 motorway will lose money, according to a financial analysis included today in TaraWatch's pre-Budgetary submission.

A LOCAL authority has been accused by An Bord Pleanála of putting major road developments at risk.

Transport Minister Noel Dempsey has formally opened Ireland's latest train station at Park West-Cherry Orchard in west Dublin.

The Government today remained tight-lipped about the prospect of a mini-Budget in coming weeks to help reshuffle spending plans.

Population and employment will double along the Metro North route over the next two decades, it was claimed today.

Learning how to safely ride a bike should be taught in classrooms, the Greens urged today.

COMMUTERS will have a say in the future of Dublin’s transportation system for the first time.

Commuters will have a say in the future of Dublin’s transportation system for the first time.

THE opposition has branded the €3 million being spent by the Government on commercials and advertisements for its flagship transport plan as a waste of money.

PEOPLE driving daily into cities and towns to work might think traffic moves slowly, but it will get slower.

LIMERICK city’s senior transport official declared yesterday that he is determined to see an end to dedicated bus lanes which go nowhere.

The Government's Transport 21 strategy is in for a major shake-up.

TRANSPORT is one of the biggest beneficiaries in the Government’s budget with Finance Minister Brian Cowen announcing an overall investment package worth €2.7 billion.

Direct rail services between Galway and Limerick will begin in 2009, transport chiefs vowed today.

The majority of the Government’s projects under Transport 21 will miss their completion deadlines.

TRANSPORT Minister Noel Dempsey is planning to bring forward plans for an ambitious rail tunnel linking Heuston Station to St Stephen’s Green, the docklands and Pearse Street Station.

THE Port of Cork, which is looking for a €60 million package to move out of the city centre, has been urged to keep with the process to ensure the multibillion-euro development of the Cork docklands moves forwards.

Journey times between Wexford and Dublin are to be slashed by around 30 minutes with the official opening today of the Gorey by-pass.

A SENIOR civil servant has broken ranks to warn that the Government’s multi-billion-euro transport policy will not work in locations where congestion problems are worst.

THE OPPOSITION last night claimed the €34.4 billion Transport 21 infrastructure plan was a “political con job” after the Government admitted several projects were already behind schedule.

THE cost of compulsorily acquiring private land for big road projects has soared over the past few years, according to figures provided by the Department of Transport.

The €5.6m profit made from the Luas light rail system last year will be reinvested in the transport system, it was announced today.

The preferred route for Dublin’s Metro West will be unveiled later today.

BUS ÉIREANN is hoping to offer commuters free rides on a new Luas-style bus system that will be tested in Cork within months.

IN THE void left by silent politicians, grassroots commuter groups are forming en-masse in an effort to harness support for improved rail services and standards.

FAR from eschewing auction politics, Fianna Fáil boasts that’s its new policies on tax and PRSI are more generous than those of Fine Gael and Labour.

TRANSPORT Minister Martin Cullen last night indicated he would finally give the go-ahead to the East Cork commuter rail project next week.

A QUARTER of Dublin’s iconic St Stephen’s Green will close to the public in 2009 to allow construction work on a new metro system for Dublin.

OVER than half of the €54.7 billion being spent on economic infrastructure will go towards transport.

CROKE PARK officials hope to give traffic jams the red card with a major plan to end congestion at the famous sports stadium, it emerged yesterday.

Croke Park officials hope to give traffic jams the red card with a major plan to end congestion at the famous sports stadium, it emerged today.

IARNRÓD Éireann’s corporate communications manager Barry Kenny, in his lambasting of economist Dr Seán Barrett (Irish Examiner letters, January 1), writes that “this country still suffers from an infrastructural deficit”, and by this he meant rail and bus infrastructure. I agree.

A PRIVATE bus company has been given a licence to operate a service between Cork and Galway.

THAT Dr Seán Barrett’s views are informed by a blinkered anti-public transport ideology is well known, but his latest diatribe masquerading as economic analysis, published by the ESRI, descends to the level of self-parody (‘Transport strategy seriously flawed’, Irish Examiner, December 21).

ONE of the country’s leading transport experts has condemned the new 10-year Transport 21 plan as totally inadequate.

What was described only a month ago by Transport Minister Martin Cullen as a “radical” plan, Transport 21 has become a “seriously flawed document” in the words of one of the country’s leading economists.

THE Green Party outlined the route of a light rail system for Cork and called for the setting up of a dedicated transport authority for the city and county yesterday.

The Green Party today unveiled proposals to bring a light rail system to the city of Cork.

All adult bus fares in Dublin will cost €1 if Labour gets into Government, it was claimed today.