Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

I hope the Deputy supports Government investment in both roads and public transport. As the Deputy well knows, the funding for the 50% increase in capacity on the M50, which is significant, will come directly from the tolls collected. They will be reinvested immediately in that road system. I said that at the end of the year the NRA will come back to Government with a proposal for a move to barrier free tolling at the end of phase one of the upgrade, which will come into place in 2008. That will involve a single point barrier free tolling position on the M50.

I have been asked this question on a number of occasions and I made it clear when I launched Transport 21 that I could not countenance — nor do I believe could anybody else — introducing demand management or congestion charging in Dublin until all the public transport facilities a modern capital city requires are in place. I refer to metro north, metro west, the seven Luas extensions, the substantial investment in buses and so on. One cannot have congestion charging or a demand management system of the type about which the Deputy speaks without alternatives for the public to use. Currently there are insufficient public transport systems in place as an alternative to the use of the M50. After 2015 when all the public transport systems are in place, a review of how they are working can take place. I hope they will have the same effect as the Luas and take 50% of people out of cars. Metro north alone will take 41,000 car journeys per day out of the system. We will be able to go to Dublin Airport from the city in 17 minutes and to Swords in 26 minutes.

There is too much debate around the issue of dealing with the M50 or another project in isolation. These projects will only benefit each other when they are completed. That is what we are doing with massive investment by the taxpayers which could not have happened only for the policies of this Government in recent years.

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