THE director of the Luas light rail project, Mr Donal Mangan, was yesterday accused of preempting the public inquiry into the project and of adopting a "cavalier disregard for the democratic process".
CLUAS, the group campaigning to reinstate Inchicore/ Kilmainham as the preferred option for the project, criticised Mr Mangan's remarks last week that it was now "too late" to consider reinstating the original route of the Tallaght tram through Inchicore and Kilmainham. He said: "It can't be done."
Mr Mangan was addressing a light rail seminar at the RDS last Friday, which was also told that the Manchester and Sheffield tramway systems had overcome initial difficulties and were running ahead of projections for revenue and passenger numbers.
However, yesterday, Mr Joe O'Carroll of CLUAS said the consultative process regarding the routing of the line had been seriously flawed. This had resulted in a flawed decision. "The next step is the public inquiry, when presumably all concerned will be entitled to have their say. By preempting the outcome of the inquiry, Mr Mangan is casting serious doubt on the democratic nature of that inquiry.
"CLUAS demands that Mr Mangan clarify his remarks. Does he see the public inquiry as a truly democratic process, or will it be swayed by the same unrepresentative pressure which undermined the first socalled consultative process?"
He said 4,000 people had signed the CLUAS petition and he did not think it would be difficult to turn that into 4,000 votes for a protest candidate in the election.
Mr Guy Harkin, a councillor and deputy chairman of Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority, told the seminar that Metrolink had become the city's "mascot" and even those who had opposed its introduction were now among its most fervent supporters.
"People are always opposed to major construction projects like this," he said. "It was the same with pedestrianisation. But if you suggested bringing traffic back to pedestrianised streets, the shopkeepers would go berserk."
Mr Harkin said the same people who had opposed Metrolink were now "clamouring" for the system to be extended to serve their areas. Extensions were being planned.
He said the existing line was already carrying 13.6 million passengers a year and making an operating profit of £4 million. "Yet we were ridiculed when we became the first city in Britain to suggest bringing back the tram."
However, his advice to CIE's project design team was to "prepare for the worst", because some things could go wrong. "Anyone who says they can bring a project like this in on time and within budget is telling lies," he said.
Mr John Bygate, chief executive of Sheffield's Supertram company, said its initial image problem had been caused by individual utilities digging up the streets in succession so that it seemed as if the work would go on "forever".
Stressing the need for a coordinated approach to construction and traffic management as well as public consultation while the work was going on, he said: "I'm sure it can he done better in Dublin than we did it."
Mr Bygate also said the spate of shop closures in certain parts of Sheffield were not caused solely by the tramway project. There was also a motorway under construction as well as the demolition of blocks of 1960s flats.
However, despite intense competition from deregulated bus services, he told the seminar that Sheffield's Supertram was now carrying nine million passengers a year, largely as a result of a vigorous marketing programme.
Mr Mangan recalled the "glee" with which opponents of the Luas project had seized on the alleged "failure" of Sheffield's system, even to the extent of organising tours to see this "disaster", but the truth was that it worked.
Mr Ciaran de Burca, divisional engineer with Dublin Corporation, said it was "fully committed" to Luas and would "do all in our power" to facilitate the project, which is "essential to the urban regeneration of the city".
