UNIONS are hopeful 290 Dublin Bus jobs can be saved, with a report outlining how costs can be cut by changed work practices rather than job losses.

HAVING a professional interest in transport matters, I read submissions to the Transport Department’s 2020 Sustainable Transport Study.

NOEL Dempsey couldn’t slump down much further into his chair as the Dáil chamber erupted.

Publicans will call today for buses for customers who cannot drive because of the Garda’s strict breath-testing campaign.

LABOUR last night attacked Transport Minister Martin Cullen for failing to ban “supertrucks” from Irish roads.

TO win the looming general election, the Government is prepared to drive people to drink, literally.

THE State’s financial watchdog yesterday delivered a scathing verdict on the management of an integrated ticketing project for Dublin transport services which has swallowed over €9 million and delivered nothing.

Officials at the Department of Transport were today preparing to intervene in the increasingly bitter dispute by taxi drivers against new fare structures.

Ireland must continue adopting anti-corruption measures to increase public confidence in state bodies, it was claimed today.

The Irish Road Haulage Association has said it is willing to resume talks with the Department of Transport over toll charges on the East Link in Dublin.

FIANNA FÁIL’S Ivor Callelly, forced to resign his junior ministry in December last after availing of a free perk, received almost half of all declared donations made to TDs, senators and MEPs last year.

The Government is failing young drivers with the lengthy wait for driving tests costing provisional motorists over €23m a year in higher insurance premiums, it was warned today.

A legal loophole will be closed to ensure gardaí can impound all foreign registered vehicles driven on the roads without insurance, tax or licences, the Transport Minister confirmed today.

No decision has yet been made on four proposed new tolls on the M50 motorway, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil tonight.

MOBILE PHONE usage was not included in 31 new penalty point offences announced yesterday - five years after a promised Government clampdown.

A JURY recommended extra safety mirrors be made compulsory on all trucks after an 80-year-old pedestrian was the fifth person to be killed in one area of Dublin because of blind spots in heavy goods vehicles.

Extra safety mirrors should be made compulsory on all trucks after an 80-year-old pedestrian was run over by a lorry on Dublin’s quays, a jury recommended tonight.

A high-powered executive body will be established within months to drive forward the new multi-billion euro transport plan in the capital, a senior minister said.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen met with the board of Shannon Airport today to discuss plans to bring more business to the travel hub.

A THREE-YEAR-OLD boy asphyxiated after an electric car window closed tightly on his neck as he played unaccompanied in his father’s car, an inquest heard last night.

The Government is planning new laws to fine motorists if they speed through new hi-tech toll bridges without paying any money, it was claimed today.

The Government must refuse the State transport company’s bid to raise fares or people will be turned off using public services, it was urged today.

MOTORISTS will be able to flout the road safety laws between now and Christmas because of major legal loopholes and lack of a proper camera and computerised system, it emerged yesterday.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan today put the cost overruns in the national roads programme down to inflation and the price of land.

A major overhaul of Ireland’s taxi service is getting underway with a regulator to step into place within two months, it was confirmed today.

HAULIERS may be about to embark on a series of nationwide protests in response to price hikes in road tolls in the last two years.

THE Department of Transport rejected claims yesterday that they had negotiated a deal to drop the Shannon stopover in return for securing four new routes for Aer Lingus in the United States.

TRANSPORT Minister Séamus Brennan last night said he wanted to get back to work after two separate inquiries cleared him of allegations that he had dodged a £5,000 brandy and cigar bill.

BUS workers across the country will be forced to strike if a quarter of Dublin routes are given to private operators, a union leader warned yesterday.