Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I think the issue is there; the problem exists. I have referred to it here in the context of school building projects in the past. Contractors were complicit in this and were actually transporting people to dole offices and back to the sites. I am not saying it is happening on this project but it has happened on other Government projects. It happened on Department of Education and Skills projects on a wide scale for many years and is now happening on Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport projects. I have made my point on that.

Last year the NRA conducted a very interesting experiment when it lifted the tolls for trucks on some of our motorways to try to encourage hauliers to use those motorways and stay out of smaller towns. I live in Laois where there are lots of bypasses but I have noted an increase in the number of articulated trucks travelling through the towns again. How successful was that experiment? Did the NRA have to pay a fee to the toll companies? Can the witnesses talk me through it and outline the lessons learned. Can the experiment be repeated? I am aware that in countries like Germany, trucks travel for free on tolled roads at night. The idea is to encourage hauliers to stay out of towns and to travel at night. I ask the witnesses to describe what seemed like a worthy experiment and its outcome.