Mr. Fred Barry:

Regarding Deputy Dooley's questions, our capacity to monitor the condition of the roads has not been affected by the shortage of money. We are still doing the full surveys and getting all the data. We will be affected by the likelihood of less money to spend on maintenance and maintenance capital next year and the year after than we had spent in earlier years. It will be less than the amount we would like to spend. In our assessment of where money should go, the investment and expenditure on the basic work of maintenance, maintenance capital and rehabilitation is getting priority. The consequence is that, other than PPP schemes, we are unlikely to be starting major schemes over the next year or two. The available money will be spent on maintaining the asset we best we can.

That also applies to questions on funding streams. Funding will be heavily cut, as it has already been. It will be cut in the coming years. We understand that and we are not making a case that it should be done differently. That is a matter for the Government. The implication is that, other than PPP schemes, we do not see major or minor schemes starting in the coming year unless they are already under way.

With regard to access to roads and the standard of junctions, lower standard junctions exist where traffic levels are much lower than they might otherwise be. Such junctions work but they are not as good as better junctions. It would be nice to upgrade them to a higher standard but, given the other priorities, I cannot see it happening in the near future.

Links to the north west are a priority. Quite a few schemes have been taken to the point where they are ready to go to An Bord Pleanála or are well developed. As with other parts of the country, we will not be able to start construction until funding is available again. That is not because they are not recognised as being needed.

What is turning up in the surface surveys is the rutting and cracking problems one would expect. All pavement has a natural life and it is inevitable it will deteriorate. We do not have pyrite problems on the national roads, which is not to take away from the pyrite problems that exist elsewhere. We occasionally have some issues with sub-surface works. Repairs were undertaken on the M9, paid for entirely by the contractor whose responsibility they were, but they did not concern pyrite.

We have an input on tolling. The policy decisions on tolling, whether further tolling will take place and whether a change to tolling should be made, rests with the Government of the day. Tolls were put in place on foot of policy decisions made earlier in the 2000s. If there were to be changes to the tolls, it would be a policy decision by the Government and we would have the task of implementation, dealing with public hearings, tolling schemes and negotiating with PPP companies. We do not initiate those activities off our own bat.

On signage, we have no plans for dual signage showing kilometres and miles. While miles are displayed north of the Border, it is kilometres across most of the Continent and I am not sure people really have a difficulty-----