Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Cullen, and wish him well in bringing this important legislation through the House. While several new powers and functions are provided for in the Bill, there is no doubt the most important are those relating to barrier-free tolling. I assume barrier-free tolling on the M50 is the main consideration of the Bill and it endeavours to facilitate its introduction.

Like so much we have seen in recent months, however, this amounts to a further attempt by the Government, in its dying days, to buy the election. The voters will not be fooled by such blatant electioneering. This legislation amounts to a U-turn by the Government. It was not so long ago it denied the State's contract with NTR would be ended and that the company would be bought out. The position is much changed today. This U-turn comes late in the day, however, for motorists who have had to suffer years of intolerable congestion, a situation that has worsened with the current upgrade works on the M50. The decision to move to barrier-free tolling comes far too late.

The Government has been in office for almost ten years and only now is it seeking to address this problem. Every dog in the street has known for years that the barriers on the M50 were a significant cause of the chronic congestion that blights the motorway each day. The Government ignored the problem for a decade, however, preferring instead to turn a blind eye and to deny that the barriers consistently caused massive tailbacks on the M50. Barrier-free tolling is better late than never, but it remains hugely disappointing that motorists will have to wait more than 18 months before the barriers finally come down.

If the Government has concluded a deal with NTR on the buy-out, why can there not be immediate relief for motorists? Why not lift the barriers immediately? The Government has consistently failed to give a credible answer to this legitimate query. Anyone who uses the M50 regularly, particularly during rush hour, will know how horrendous it can be. If the State is prepared to hand over €600 million of taxpayers' money to a private company that has already made unimaginable returns from its involvement with the M50, motorists are entitled to relief now and should not be forced to wait for 18 months, as the Government proposes.