Cabinet considers authority for Dublin and nearby areas

The Government is considering proposals to establish a Greater Dublin Authority with overall responsibility for transport and land use throughout the region, The Irish Times has learned.

The proposed authority's remit would extend to Meath, Kildare and Wicklow and would have powers to regulate all public transport services and infrastructural development, including major road and rail projects.

The Cabinet subcommittee on infrastructure, chaired by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, is considering whether the new authority would replace the Dublin Transportation Office. To speed up major projects, such as the underground metro proposed by the DTO, the subcommittee is considering "fasttrack" procurement methods.

One of the options would involve availing of powers in the 1999 Planning Bill, now before the Dail, to designate as "strategic" each element of whatever package the Government adopts to improve transportation.

If the new authority had land-use powers, with a mandate to implement the Greater Dublin Area Strategic Planning Guidelines, this would have significant implications for county councillors' functions on rezoning.

The first annual review of the guidelines, published last month, stressed the need to implement a strategy based on consolidating the metropolitan area and link new development closely with rail-based transport links.

It also emphasised the need for a commitment soon on "the location and character of the fixed elements of the public transport system, as these will determine the detailed location of future land uses and will reduce the pressure for sprawl".

In her paper outlining a new framework for public transport, the Minister for Public Enterprise, Ms O'Rourke, signalled that "a single authority with wider responsibilities than those currently exercised by the DTO" was likely to be set up.

The paper, presented to the Cabinet subcommittee on April 18th, made it clear that such a body would be required to regulate competition in the bus sector following the break-up of CIE by franchising bus routes and monitoring the delivery of the contracted levels of service.

The extent of the remit to be given to the proposed Greater Dublin Authority is currently being examined by the Inter-Departmental Team on Infrastructural Development, covering "not only public transport but also roads and possibly land use", as Ms O'Rourke said.

The team and the Cabinet subcommittee to which it reports were both established last year to tackle delays in the delivery of major projects, such as the Dublin Port Tunnel, and they have concentrated their efforts on devising more streamlined methods of procurement.

Apart from the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Enterprise, the subcommittee includes the Tanaiste, Ms Harney; the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy; the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, and the Attorney General, Mr Michael McDowell.