Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent)
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Question 434: To ask the Minister for Transport the discussions which have taken place between his Department and the owners of the West Link Toll Plaza regarding the manner in which tolls are collected and regarding the abolition of those tolls; if he anticipates that the West Link will be toll free within the next year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31077/06]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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In 2005, I had two meetings with representatives of NTR. Both meetings dealt with the issue of congestion at the West-Link Bridge and the options for a speedy transition to barrier free tolling. In the course of both meetings, I emphasised the critical importance of moving to barrier free tolling as quickly as possible.

In addition to the foregoing, my Department has had contact with NTR in relation to the State's share of the West-Link toll revenues and with NTR and other toll operators in relation to legislative changes necessary to support enforcement of a barrier free toll regime.

As the Deputy is aware, the statutory power to levy tolls on national roads, to make toll bye-laws and to enter into toll agreements with private investors in respect of national roads, including the M50, is vested in the National Roads Authority (NRA) under Part V of the Roads Act 1993 (as amended by the Planning and Development Act 2000).

In that context, last January, the NRA decided to replace the West-Link toll on the M50 by a single-point barrier free toll in 2008. The installation of barrier-free tolling is a crucial element of the M50 upgrade which is underway at present. The NRA has initiated a tender competition for the provision of barrier free tolling services with the objective of having barrier free tolling arrangements operational on the M50 by mid 2008.

I expect that significant improvement in the situation on the M50 will take place in 2008 with the introduction of barrier free tolling, together with the completion of Phase 1 of the upgrade on the road section between the N4 (Galway Road) and Ballymount interchanges along with the interchanges themselves. Further improvement will take place on completion of the later phases of the upgrade in 2010.