City Council stands by its traffic plan for Dublin

Dublin's new traffic management plan is working well and will continue to be implemented, the City Council insisted yesterday.

Commenting on the agreement reached with the Department of Transport over the controversial new scheme, a council spokesman said the "only issue" with the Department had been over signage.

He also explained that the €200,000 cost of the new signs was for the entire design, construction and placement cost of the signs. Alterations, if required, would cost in the region of €5,000 and to re-hang them would cost another €2,000.

The spokesman said the City Council had been heartened by the response of Dubliners, particularly on yesterday morning's Marian Finucanne RTÉ radio programme, on which many callers had been in favour of the new scheme. He repeated that the orbital routes for cross-city traffic were still in operation and pointed out that traffic congestion in the O'Connell Street area of the city centre had been eased by as much as 50 per cent.

Under the agreement worked out with officials of the Department of Transport on Tuesday, the council will report within a week on "measures which might resolve the issue" - believed to be shorthand for the design of a new sign.

Difficulties with the signs centred around the layout of the panels, which a design consultant told The Irish Times was "all over the place". "When you read a book you want the next line to start at the left-hand margin: a good layout should follow the same basic signals.

"However, in the case of the city council's signs, some blocks - such as national road numbers - were centred under blocks immediately above them, while others were not. Some carry just one block and the words "An Lár" across a section as large as one third of the signpost - that makes nonsense of the assertion that there was no room for the English language".

The design consultant, who runs a busy and successful business in Dublin, declined to be named on the grounds that "this is a very small town and the city council is a big client if you can get them".

Mr Andy Barclay, a former design editor with The Irish Times, echoed many of these concerns, adding that "symbols have simplified a system we don't yet understand, to the point of mystification."

The council has said it would in future consult the Department as a matter of courtesy about major new traffic plans for the city. The spokesman emphasised, however, that last week's new scheme still stands. The scheme, although criticised by van-based courier companies and some private motorists, was broadly supported by the AA, Dublin Bus and cyclist groups.

The council's director of traffic, Mr Owen Keegan, was unavailable for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, the intervention in the controversy by the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, has been criticised by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Dermot Lacey.

According to the mayor, Mr Brennan's action was "an impertinence" and an interference with a decision of the democratically elected council.

Describing the signs as "advisory", the mayor said he stood over the local authority's decision, which he said was taken to improve life in the city centre.