Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

They have done that. They have lifted it for an hour on several occasions to see what the effect might be. As I said, the M50 upgrade is underway, with phase 1 from the N4 to the Ballymount interchange to be completed by mid-2008 along with phase 3 from the M3 to the N4. The full upgrade will be completed in 2010. It is a massive infrastructural project. It will not be done overnight or without some inconvenience to motorists, but it should be an enormous success when finished. Barrier-free tolling will be introduced in August 2008, coinciding with the completion of phases one and three.

See this speech in context