Mr. Michael Nolan:

I am aware of the Deputy's representations on this matter through the Minister and directly over the years. We carried out a study in 2012 on the impact of lifting the toll at Donore Road in which we modelled what would happen to the traffic movement and where traffic would go if the tolling regime were changed. I do not know whether other members are aware of the layout of the area. There are north-facing toll ramps at Donore Road going into Drogheda, and people coming south off the motorway pay a toll at that point to go into Drogheda. Removal of the toll at that point would put approximately another 18,000 cars each day onto Donore Road and Duleek Road, which would create rat runs through the south Drogheda area, heading for south Drogheda and going down towards Julianstown. If there were political support for removal of the toll and if one could get through a new toll scheme and go through all the environmental impact assessments of the extra traffic on the local road system in the area, one would have to subsidise and subvent the private sector operator to the tune of about €8 million per year for the next 17 years. It would be a huge burden on the taxpayer and there would also be major environmental disbenefits for the local road system south of Drogheda. However, I am aware that much of the traffic in that part of Drogheda has been generated by the development of two out-of-town retail parks, that is, the M1 retail park and Drogheda Retail Park beside Donore Road. We are aware that Drogheda has in the local area plans and the county development plan an aspiration to develop a new bridge linking these two development centres. That would take a lot of pressure off traffic in that area. I think the bridge was proposed as a solution to a lot of the additional traffic coming onto that part of the network arising from the development of two successful out-of-town retail parks.

The Fleadh is probably the Deputy's focus at present. I am not too sure-----