Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

The Taoiseach has disowned two reputable journalists, the NRA and the Civil Service, and then he tells me the Government position. Why is this procurement process necessary if the toll plaza on the bridge is simply being reinstated? It is private property. The Government must be going through the procurement process because it is erecting these gantries along the M50 that the Minister for Transport told us about. There is no other explanation.

The Taoiseach now comes into this House, after all the years of protesting on behalf of hard-pressed motorists trying to commute to work in the morning and get home in the evening, and tells us that there must now be assessments of traffic flows and a year spent on procurement. What have all the Ministers for Transport been doing down the years? How can we have reached a stage after nine years where the Government is now monitoring traffic flows? Tell the people the truth. The Government proposes to take no action between now and 2008 despite additional traffic from the port tunnel and the disruption caused by the refurbishment of the M50. Despite that additional punishment for hard-pressed motorists, no action will be taken.

The Taoiseach has discounted the fanciful, inspired press briefings by the Minister for Transport, saying there is nothing in them, but why would he put this project out to tender through the public procurement process if he does not intend to implement a State-controlled electronic barrier-free tolling system around the M50, as has been reported by these journalists, who did not make it up, no matter what the Taoiseach says? Here we are after nine years with the situation getting worse, with the Minister saying one thing and the Taoiseach implying something else.

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