Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I wish to share time with Deputy Deenihan.

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his appointment. I wish him well and I hope he will have a clear view of our opportunities to contribute and so on. I also congratulate Deputy Billy Kelleher on his appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Transport and the Marine.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. As the Minister stated, the Bill primarily deals with the congestion on the M50 and the national primary roads infrastructure. While I welcome the effort to free up the traffic flow on the M50, it is unreal that the problem has been allowed to continue for as long as it has. In recent times, I have had the advantage of using the M1 to travel between County Monaghan and Dublin. The Eazy Pass system allows motorists to travel more quickly along motorways but one must stop at the toll booth on the M50 because the traffic is so heavy. In this day and age, I do not know why better use has not been made of technology on the busiest thoroughfare in the State. Six or seven Eazy Pass lanes should be provided at the West Link while the M50 upgrade is under way and it is impossible to understand why that has not been done when one considers the massive profits NTR has made and is guaranteed to make until the State takes over responsibility for the bridge. Simple initiatives could be taken to make life a little easier for people; it is impossible to know who is in charge at any given time.

The management of public transport is fragmented. When one travels between Donegal, Derry or Monaghan on the M1 to Dublin, one can travel at 70 mph on the motorway but the minute one hits the city, one must sit in traffic. On one occasion, which the Taoiseach attributed to a broken down lorry, I sat in my car for one hour and five minutes on the M1 without moving because of the gridlock. It does not take a genius to create park and ride facilities and provide buses to take people into the city centre.

None of us likes the system of tolls and it is a major problem for industry. This issue must be examined carefully. The new system will provide that foreign registered lorries do not have to pay tolls, yet Irish lorry drivers will. I would like the Minister of State to clarify whether that is the case because the haulage industry is enormously handicapped as it is without facing further competitiveness problems. Hauliers and other motorists who must pass through a number of tolls on a daily or weekly basis face a significant cost.

I refer to the extension of the M1 through County Monaghan to Derry. I welcome the recent decision by the Taoiseach and former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to provide moneys to upgrade the road between Dublin and Derry. However, I beg the Minister to ensure that decision is not allowed to delay the upgrade of the road. It is proposed that a dual carriageway will be built between Derry and the Moy Bridge in County Monaghan while it was originally proposed that the single carriageway between Moy Bridge and Monaghan town would be upgraded. Meanwhile, a three-lane motorway will be built between Clontibret and Castleblayney and I am not sure whether that will be extended. However, this will lead to complications. The M1 runs between Dublin and Ardee, County Louth. One then travels on a single carriageway between Ardee and Castleblayney, County Monaghan. We then have a three-lane road from Castleblayney to Clontibret and a single-lane road from Clontibret by Monaghan town to the Border. There is a dual carriageway again from that point to Derry. This should be looked at carefully. We do not want this to be given as an excuse to hold up the entire system or allow the NRA to state it cannot continue with the Monaghan-Emyvale stretch until there is progress on what is happening in Northern Ireland. It must be remembered, to echo what the new Deputy from Cork South-West said, that one of the main areas with no rail service is Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal. This roadway is significantly important for tourism, industry and the general public. We do not want to allow what has been a very progressive and worthwhile agreement in Northern Ireland to slow this issue or bring it to a halt. It is vital that there be quick thinking and action on it.

In his speech, the Minister mentioned provision of service and rest areas on the national road network. Nobody welcomes that statement more than I. I have tried for years to get information in this House on the policy for that issue. It is unbelievable that the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government insists that hauliers and others have special times in which they must stop and rest. If these people do not show they have complied by means of a tachograph, they are liable to heavy fines. However, we do not provide any service area for them, and when we ask the relevant Minister about service areas, we are told the Department is not responsible. We are told by the NRA it is not responsible either.

At least with this Bill it looks as if there is some move in the direction of solving this issue. I put down a question to the Minister for Transport and the Marine for today and I cannot find it anywhere. It is not on the list and the only place it is, proving that it was sent, is on my computer. The question was:

To ask the Minister for Transport and the Marine if he has any plans to insist that park and rest areas are provided by the NRA or county councils in light of the fact that hauliers must adhere to the law and rest at regular intervals; if he can advise how many such rest areas are already in place along the national primary and secondary routes in Ireland at the present time, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

It is unbelievable that one can ask a question like that in this House and not get an answer. There is not even an explanation as to why the question is not on the list of questions. I had another refusal on a question put down for the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government but that is not surprising. I would urge that there be no hold-up in the provision of an upgraded road between Dublin and Derry. It is part of the cross-Border agreement and it should be one of the issues prioritised by this Government and the NRA. I look forward to it.

See this speech in context