Seamus Brennan's difficulties with traffic management agencies are likely to be eclipsed as the unions confront him on his plans, writes Carl O'Brien.
You can't fault his energy.
In the 17 months since he took office, the turbo-charged Minister for Transport has been making endless announcements, taking innumerable policy decisions and commissioning an exhausting number of reports.
As Minister of a newly created Department, formed in response to growing concern over the poor state of Ireland's infrastructure, he was appointed to battle bureaucratic gridlock and get the country's transport projects moving.
But, with a heavy burden of expectation built up over 1½ years of promises, Opposition politicians say the Minister's solutions increasingly seem like half-baked ideas which inevitably end up strangled by union resistance or infighting between transport quangos.
Deadlines loom too for many of his pledges. Decisions on the height of the Port Tunnel, the future of the Red Cow roundabout and a second terminal for Dublin Airport are all due before Christmas.
Mr Brennan, however, points to impressive progress on issues such as the introduction of penalty points a year ago - enforced despite fierce resistance from the Garda and the Department of Justice - which has changed driver behaviour and saved as many as 77 lives.
Plans to overhaul the driving test system and the break up of Aer Rianta are at a relatively advanced stage, although just one major piece of legislation, regulation of the taxi industry, has been enacted.
"Overall, the Minister is fairly satisfied that most of the issues he has raised have been progressed significantly, although some have been more complex than anticipated," said a spokesman for Mr Brennan.
"A lot of the promises and commitments made are close to delivery time, whether that's the end of this year or the early months of next year."
Many of the speedbumps hindering the pace of Mr Brennan's reforms have crept up unexpectedly because of disputes between transport agencies, soaring construction costs or short-sighted decisions inherited from previous administrations.
An example is the height of the Dublin Port Tunnel. In the next two weeks the Minister must decide whether the tunnel, already half built, is tall enough to fit all the trucks trundling through the city each day.
Mr Brennan is considering a proposal from consultants that the tunnel be raised by one foot. The end result is likely to be an increase in height, costing the taxpayer about €20 million, and delaying the project for about two months.The cost of the entire project has ballooned from original estimates of about €125 million in 1996 to latest estimates of €625 million.
There is a view that Mr Brennan is dependent on too many individual and often uncommunicative State agencies. In traffic management alone there are more than 20 separate agencies and non-governmental organisations involved.
The DART debacle, for instance, where it emerged that key sections of the line will be closed at weekends for months, was as much a surprise to the Minister as it was to the public, according to officials.
But if anything represents the confusing and infuriating world of transport Irish-style, it is the Red Cow roundabout saga.
Dubbed the "Mad Cow" roundabout, the original plans were to send the Luas through one of the country's worst congestion spots. Yet no one appeared to notice until a speaker at a transport conference raised the issue earlier this year.
The Minister asked for new plans which have been fought over by the Railway Procurement Agency, the National Roads Authority, the Dublin Transportation Office and local authorities. Mr Brennan didn't help matters when he said he would consider putting the Luas "on stilts" over the junction, conjuring up cartoon-like images of a tram riding across flimsy wooden poles.
However, if Mr Brennan thought he had problems with transport agencies, there may be worse to come in the form of unions. His plan to increase competition in CIÉ by breaking up the company and privatising some Dublin bus routes has already prompted work stoppages and a no-fares day.
The Minister's decision to end Aer Rianta's monopoly and establish three competing airport authorities, not to mind building a new terminal that might be run by Mr Michael O'Leary's anti-union Ryanair, will create even more turbulence on the union front.
Whatever about Mr Brennan's busy 1½ years in office, the new year threatens to be even more action-packed. Expect tough talking about his determination to enforce his policies, along with more bus, rail and airport strikes. Expect some faltering progress too.
But don't expect him to slow down.