Results 1,021-1,040 of 19,173 for speaker:Shane Ross

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: Perhaps we should have——

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I shall return to that interview which the Minister gave on "Morning Ireland" which was very entertaining. I listened to it because I had been speaking beforehand. Apart from the fact that he made remarks similar to those he is making here about the contribution I had made earlier, he did not answer the question about the demand management report. The problem we have with his proposal for...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I am trying very hard to address the Chair but it is somewhat difficult. I will continue to where I was before I was so politely interrupted. The problem with the demand management report is that it is set up to manage the traffic after 2008 and to make recommendations. According to the Minister — I believe him — the tolling arrangement which is proposed is going to stay, once it is...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: Without interruption.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I must have got something right.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: The Minister said that. This is the most ridiculous and preposterous suggestion and hypothesis that I have ever heard. It is a statement made to carry the Minister through until May or possibly June and he knows he cannot bind his predecessors by this.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: It is absurd to suggest that one has a demand management report which will not and has not produced alternative tolling arrangements. That is what it is about. It is about traffic management. The alternatives in this report are as follows. First, as the Minister rightly says, single point tolling in the same place. The Minister is right. Second, that tolling is put at certain selected...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I ask the Minister to wait a minute.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: The Minister is not down in Waterford Castle.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: Neither would they invite Senator Mansergh.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: What will happen is that the Minister will leave office in May.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I am putting it to the Chair. The Minister will leave office in May. The report——

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: The report will come back. Perhaps Senator Mansergh could have that job if his ambitions are fulfilled. He might replace him. The report will then find its way into the hands of the Minister's successor and, lo and behold, he or she will decide to toll the entire M50 rather than a single point. There is a certain logic in that option which this report will recommend. Does the Minister...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: Is there a procedure for removing a Minister from the House?

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: Let us be realistic about this. This is not going to happen. When barrier-free tolling is introduced, over a period of years the entire M50 will be tolled. The Minister's pledge will come back to haunt him because it is ridiculous to say that a single point will be tolled forever. It is not going to happen. That is not what the report said.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: It is not going to happen. We will have barrier-free tolling all over the M50 and people should be told this. They should not be told that a ridiculous single point polling policy is going to continue just to carry them over the May period.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I cannot understand why the Minister did not take the opportunity he had this year or last year simply to open that particular West Link toll plaza.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: It would have brought about a great deal more happiness for a large number of people caught in those queues.

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: I take the Minister's point when he interrupts because I can hear some of his interruptions. He says it would have achieved nothing. I accept that there is a case to be made for those who say that the M50 is so blocked up at peak times that one will just have another block a little further up the road. It is possible. I do not know whether that is true. Certain consultants' reports have...

Seanad: Roads Bill 2007 [Seanad]: Second Stage (7 Mar 2007)

Shane Ross: If he travels at peak hours, he knows that there is no doubt that one can be caught there for between 20 and 30 minutes in front of the toll bridge and when one gets through, there is a clear way as far as the airport and further on.