David Norris (Independent)

This issue has been around for quite a while and is a developing scandal. I am not interested in who is responsible and whether it was a Labour Party Minister who signed the agreement. We have a problematic situation and should address it. I raised this matter on 10 June 2003 as a result of an experience I had going through the toll bridge. At the time I said:

A recent journey took me across the West Link toll bridge. There are ten lanes through which vehicles may pass at the tollbooth. On the day in question, the first lane was closed, the next three were Eazy Pass only, no change was given at the next lane, the next two lanes were also Eazy Pass, there was a girl in the next lane putting money into a basket and the last lane had no markings. I went right across to the girl with the basket, but she would not give me any change. It may seem silly, but if every second person is giving 70 cent to National Toll Roads, it will make a huge amount of money. It has already swindled the people of Ireland by having its free run at the toll bridge extended. We should consider this matter.

I was not raising the parsimonious Protestant view that I was giving 70 cent to the owners of the toll bridge; I was also dealing with the question of safety. It was dreadful, the signage was bad and I needed to zigzag across several lanes to get to the badly-marked toll booth.

As far as I am concerned National Toll Roads is buccaneering at this stage. It is shameless. It knows it is squeezing the people and it is arrogant and unrepentant. The demeanour of its representatives before committees of the Oireachtas is appalling. They simply dismissed us. All the time we hear about €10 million here and €5 million there and what it could be used for in our hospitals. Has NTR no conscience? What about the application to which the taxpayers' money could be put if they did not have to waste all this money on these toll roads? The worst aspect seems to be the claim it is making that if the Government buys it out, under EU law it is still entitled to tender for the contract. We could buy it out, give it a present of hard cash and find it continuing to rob us. That is the unacceptable face of capitalism.

While I am not suggesting there are easy solutions, certain things could be done. For example, let us consider what was done in France. The national autoroute 6 going south from Paris has a large toll plaza for traffic in one direction and a few miles further down the road it has another plaza for traffic in the opposite direction. Why not use the existing West Link plaza for traffic in one direction and perhaps on the other side of the bridge have a plaza for traffic in the opposite direction, which would free up the entire thing?