Senior officials from the Department of Transport will meet Dublin City Council representatives either today or tomorrow to discuss their concerns about the erection of a new range of signposts in the capital.
The design of the signposts does not conform with department guidelines, which aim to ensure all signs are of a uniform design, and it is understood the council may be asked to modify them.
The Department will also air its disappointment at the meeting at not being informed about a new traffic management plan for the city, which went into operation yesterday. It would have expected to be kept abreast of the change as a matter of courtesy.
It is not clear if the Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, will attend the hastily-arranged meeting. He was due to return from holidaying abroad last night.
The new traffic management plan, aimed at limited through traffic in the city centre, resulted in a 50 per cent reduction in traffic on O'Connell Street between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. yesterday, a statement from the council said.
The main opposition party, however, criticised the plan. Fine Gael's spokesperson on transport, Mr Denis Naughten, called it a disaster. "While I fully support any attempt to tackle Dublin's horrendous traffic problem, the introduction of the new traffic initiative in Dublin city was badly handled. It would have been far better to bring in this scheme at the beginning of the summer holidays, rather than one week before the school traffic is back on the roads."
Labour's spokesperson on transport, Ms Joan Burton, said it was beyond belief that the Department of Transport let it be known it was not aware of the city council's new traffic plans. "Most of these changes have been flagged for years."
She said congestion in the city cost businesses €1 billion a year and relieving this was one of the Department's major responsibilities. "I want the Minister to clarify the matter urgently today so the general public can get used to the new measures in the knowledge that they are here to stay, rather than the crude suggestions that there is no proper legal basis or Government agreement to their implementation."
Yesterday's changes involved a ban on southbound traffic from Dorset Street through North Frederick Street, and from Parnell Square into O'Connell Street. Buses, taxis and cyclists were exempt from the changes and Dublin Bus reported a reduction of up to 20 minutes in journey times for bus routes travelling south on O'Connell Street.
The AA's public affairs manager, Mr Conor Faughnan, said implementation of the new plan "went pretty well" but it was met by an element of confusion among motorists. It resulted in a build-up of traffic on the north quays and Mr Faughnan said it seemed people were unsure where they could and couldn't go and they went down the quays.
He said the AA still had some concerns about where the diverted traffic was supposed to go. "But overall the reason for doing this is to facilitate O'Connell Street regeneration and I believe most citizens of Dublin are in favour of that".He expected motorists would get used to the new signs.