asked the Minister for the Environment when work will commence on the Chapelizod and Palmerstown/Ballydowd by-passes on the Dublin-Galway road.

Dublin County Council are at present proceeding with preliminary works on the Palmerstown/Ballydowd by-pass scheme and tenders for the civil engineering works have been invited. Road grants totalling over £1.6 million have been allocated to the scheme.

Outline proposals, prepared by Dublin Corporation, for a by-pass of Chapelizod were approved in June 1974. The corporation subsequently decided not to proceed with the approved scheme and I understand that the corporation are at present considering an alternative scheme for the by-pass. In the circumstances I am not in a position to say when work will commence.