Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

There are three or four points. The Deputy accepts the additional works are vitally necessary and the Government has been pressing to get on with them. Procurement and related issues have been addressed.

The issue on the contract is because NTR is involved in the funding of the project, a buy out is not an option because that will affect the work.

The Deputy asked what alleviation can be provided to assist motorists during the period of construction. That is a fair point and I will address that issue with the Minister. There have been meetings on this issue but I do not know their conclusions. However, I accept the Deputy's point that if conditions worsen during construction, that will be a greater difficulty, which must be addressed. As the works will start in a number of months, that must be done now. The NRA, NTR and the Minister dealt with this last October and November.

I also asked to have the wider issue addressed last year by the Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure. The discussions on the current contract went on for some time and it was tied up in 1984. However, the projections for 2015 to 2018 that were used have long been exceeded. Looking to the next decade, I do not believe that even the enhanced works will be enough. When the Spanish built their version of the M50 around Madrid, they also wisely built an outer road and this issue must be examined for the longer term. I accept the Deputy is raising the short-term inconvenience but there is no way the M50 will resolve the problem in the long term, even with the enhanced works. That is my view having listened to the presentation by the NRA and the Department of Transport.

See this speech in context