The new transport super-agency will draw executive powers away from local authorities, CIÉ and bodies such as the Railway Procurement Agency, the Department of Transport insists.
Under proposals being considered by Minister for Transport Martin Cullen, the new agency would have the authority to design billions of euro worth of new transport links and send them out to tender. "The new body will have to have real teeth, real power and a clearly focused executive team to deliver," one of the Minister's closest aides told The Irish Times last night.
The Minister's ambitions for the new agency are set to provoke a major battle for control with CIÉ, the Railway Procurement Agency, Dublin's four local authorities and the Dublin Transportation Office.
Last night, there were strong signals that Mr Cullen has a far more ambitious view of the new agency than that shared by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The Minister is due to bring proposals for the new agency before the Cabinet "within a few weeks", the aide said.
Questioned in the Dáil, however, the Taoiseach offered a much more limited image of the new body, one limited to a monitoring role.
"The Department will establish a monitoring group under its chairmanship for the purpose of overseeing the implementation of what is a very elaborate plan to bring the infrastructure of this country up to scale," he told the Labour leader, Pat Rabbitte.
However, the Department of Transport insists the new agency will have to have wide-ranging statutory powers.
Existing transport bodies in the capital would continue to have responsibility for "running services", but planning for the multi-billion euro programme would lie with the new body, Mr Cullen's aide said.
Under the Transport (Railway Infrastructure) Act, 2001, the Railway Procurement Agency, for instance, has a statutory mandate to provide light railway and metro services.
Last night, the Taoiseach's spokeswoman said Mr Cullen intends to create "a consensus" in favour of the new agency. "The principle is agreed," she told The Irish Times.
Doubts, however, were expressed last night about plans for a new super-agency: "It could take two years to get that through the Oireachtas," one industry source told The Irish Times.
If the Minister goes ahead, the body would have to be given the necessary statutory powers while existing powers enjoyed by other agencies would have to be repealed.
The Government's Transport 21 programme promises to build two metro services in the capital, extra Luas lines, a new dockland railway station and to upgrade suburban commuter services.
Furthermore, it intends to provide Dart-style services on lines to Kildare and Maynooth.
