Anyone wandering into Dublin Castle yesterday morning would have noticed 20 Mercs - or equivalent - lined up in the Upper Castle Yard. But while Government ministers may still see the world through the windscreens of their chauffeur-driven cars, there can be no doubt that the penny has dropped on traffic and transport in Dublin.
The new National Development Plan, or "National Development Programme" in the Taoiseach's phrase, has been handed down like a tablet of stone from the mountain-top - and, in that sense, the choice of launch venue was oddly appropriate: past edicts issued "By Order of The Lord Lieutenant, Dublin Castle" still resonate.
Of course, the Government claims there has been "intensive consultation" in formulating the plan. Such consultation as there was took place only with those on the inside track, notably the "social partners" and trumped-up "regional authorities"; the mandarins in Merrion Street made sure that the loop was as closed as quickly as possible.
Thirty years ago, the Buchanan report on regional development also advocated the designation of alternative "growth centres" to take the pressure off Dublin. But the need to ensure there would be "something for everyone in the audience" meant that the Government couldn't bring itself to make the hard choices.
Now, three decades later, its successor still can't seem to decide what form regional development will take. And, in the meantime, Dublin has developed a critical mass because of the absence of any strategy to contain it; Dublin is now the engine of "Ireland Inc." and its growing services-based economy.
It seems unlikely that the plan will substantially alter the latest projection of a population of 1.93 million for the Greater Dublin Area (including Meath, Kildare and Wicklow) by 2011. Indeed, all the indications are that the city's commuter belt will become even larger as high house prices and improved roads facilitate more dispersal.
Nonetheless, there is a welcome recognition of the "need to reduce the reliance on private cars in the Dublin area and switch to public transport" to reduce horrendous traffic congestion and the pollution it causes. The pity is that this has come after years of misconceived planning for a motorised city that clearly doesn't work.
The penny has indeed dropped - and the pounds are now set to fall out of the sky for much-needed investment in public transport. Altogether, £1.58 billion has been pledged to develop the bus network, implement the Luas light rail system, increase the capacity of the DART, improve suburban rail services and provide new "park-and-ride" facilities.
The overall figure includes a contingency allocation of £500 million for further developments, including rail links to Navan and Dublin Airport, better signalling, quadrupling existing double lines to reduce conflict between mainline and suburban services and implementing the Government's May 1998 decision to put Luas partially underground.
The latter is seen as a prime candidate for a public-private partnership, with a likely pricetag of £300 million. However, it has long been clear to transport experts that simply putting Luas underground between St Stephen's Green and Broadstone cannot be justified on any cost-benefit analysis because it would do nothing to increase its capacity.
Furthermore, the argument which the Government bought at the time from Dr Garret FitzGerald, Dublin Chamber of Commerce and the car lobby in general - that it needed to go underground to preserve road space for other traffic - will be gone when Dublin Corporation bans the existing left-turn at the end of Dawson Street next spring.
So, having decided to spend £300 million on a horizontal hole in the ground under the city centre, the real issue is whether this is the right hole. Is there not a much more sensible solution staring us in the face - an underground link between Spencer Dock and Heuston, running via Westland Row, St Stephen's Green, Dame Street and Wood Quay?
The Dublin Docklands Development Authority now supports such a link, but from Connolly rather than Spencer Dock. Either way, proposals being studied by Ove Arup and Partners in their strategic rail review for CIE offers the prospect of creating a circle line in the city centre, making use of the existing Phoenix Park tunnel.
Though an underground rail link between Connolly and Heuston has long been canvassed, it was ruled out on cost grounds. Even when Luas was first proposed in the early 1990s, its then price-tag of £200 million seemed like a lot of money. But now, in the context of a bumper Exchequer surplus, £200 million looks like chicken-feed.
Luas was, of course, meant to be operational next year under the previous national development plan. So were the M50 and the Dublin Port tunnel. However, as the latest plan notes, there has been "considerable slippage" in the delivery of these and other elements of the city's transportation strategy, and it is likely that this will be repeated unless we change our ways.
The Government is aware of this danger, too. It already has set up a Cabinet subcommittee to oversee the delivery of key infrastructure projects and says it will have "no hesitation in putting in place" a more streamlined process.
However, there seems to be very little awareness among ministers of the role of a good public transport system, not just to cater for existing demand but also to provide a viable structure for future higher-density housing. Recognition of that crucial link between land use and transport would be worth any amount of guff about "sustainable development".