Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take on board much of what Mr. Maher said. I am a daily user of the M50 and anyone who uses it can see the economic recovery in the country is directly correlated to the level of traffic on the M50. It is probably the best barometer one could have of it.

I am sure the Chairman will agree with my next point. We represent the same constituency and we made it previously to colleagues of the witnesses. I was very pleased to hear TII's final contribution regarding the development of public transport alternatives within the context of developments relating to the M50. The major concern for people who live directly adjacent to the M50 relates to the introduction of multi-point tolling and the financial implications of moving traffic off the motorway and into surrounding areas.

It would, on a social level, be unacceptable to the communities living there. It would also have knock-on implications for businesses trying to operate in the immediate vicinity of the M50. There is an inherent design problem with the M50. We built it and then opened up development on every single junction on it that in a very short period of time made it go from a circulatory ring road, which people used to circumnavigate the city and cut out the traffic, to a distribution road for local traffic.Mr. Maher made the point about public transport and other considerations before tolling would ever be considered. It might solve the M50 problem but it would be devastating for areas immediately adjacent to it.