RPA attacks Cullen’s plans to replace it with new agency

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.

The Railway Procurement Agency (RPA) yesterday warned that proposals announced earlier this week by Mr Cullen to establish a Dublin Transport Authority (DTA) with sweeping powers over existing public transport companies could delay plans to complete the Metro by 2013.

In a statement released yesterday, the RPA stressed that it fully supported the establishment of the new body if it could “add value” to the work of existing transport bodies in implementing the Government’s Transport 21 programme for the greater Dublin region.