I wanted to ask the Taoiseach about his visit to London, but there is nothing more to be said on the matter. All the democratic parties in the House support the Taoiseach in what he has said.

Has the Government any proposals to address traffic chaos on the west side of the city? On 28 December, the Minister of State with responsibility for traffic, Deputy Callely, announced, as reported in The Irish Times, that he would bring National Toll Roads to heel on its proposed 20% increase in tolls. People would be prepared to pay reasonable tolls if there were not inordinate delays. As I am sure the Taoiseach knows, impossible circumstances are created in the entire west of Dublin especially at peak morning and evening times for commuters crossing the Westlink bridge or coming in from the adjacent counties of Kildare and Meath.

Clearly, nothing came of Deputy Callely's involvement and a 20% hike was imposed on the toll against a background of inflation of 2.2%. More importantly, imminent works to renovate the M50, including the construction of a grade separation at the Red Cow, will make things impossibly worse. Has the Government any proposals to alleviate the plight of motorists on the M50 and adjoining roads? Has the Taoiseach examined the contract which allowed for the construction of bridges? Is it the case that it would cost €400 million to buy back the Westlink bridge? Is the Taoiseach satisfied about the circumstances in which the contract was concluded? Are we precluded from building another bridge? Whatever the circumstances, we cannot attempt to create grade separations and an additional lane on either side of the M50 with all of the disruption that implies while continuing to allow the obstruction caused by the toll plaza. At the very least, some temporary relief will have to be negotiated with National Toll Roads consistent with its contract to allow people to travel to and from work while the refurbishment works are being carried out.

There are a number of matters to address in the context of the M50. I will deal with the tolling issue, the widening of the lanes, interchanges and the upgrading of the road. As Deputy Rabbitte knows, a contract is being prepared by the NRA on widening and improvements which will constitute a costly operation. I understand the NRA hopes the works will commence later this year. A buy out of the National Toll Roads contract has not been considered. Any such consideration would have to take account of the costs involved and the implications for the funding of the M50 upgrade project, which is linked. The Government has been advised that the solution to congestion on the M50, including the Westlink bridge, is the M50 upgrade project and the move to barrier free tolling. The technology is available and it is working successfully in other countries. This is the advice to the Government and the Department of Transport and they believe these two projects will help. The Comptroller and Auditor General is carrying out a preliminary review of the Westlink concession with a view to deciding whether to carry out a full value for money analysis.

The decision to increase the tolls on the Westlink was taken by NTR. The toll charges are within the minimum allowed under the agreement and the increase reflects the fact the tolls were held below the maximum level between 2002 and 2004.

Because of the election.

The increase reflects a catching up on the indexation in the agreement between the NRA and NTR.

In reply to Deputy Rabbitte, I accept that during peak hours the M50 is, at times, like a car park and one could not argue against that but the solution to peak hour congestion on the route in the view of traffic engineers is the implementation of the M50 upgrade and barrier free tolling. The traffic level is higher than they believed it would be in 2015 or 2018 and they are examining the issue of building an outer link road but little work has been done on that. Many decisions on these issues were made 20 years ago using estimates of car occupancy up to 2015 but they are history.

The contract for the work on the widening on the road and on the interchanges will go ahead. It cannot be stopped at this stage and it is only a question of starting it. However, we should try to resolve the barrier free tolling issue quickly. I recently saw such tolling working enormously effectively in a country whose population is double ours. It is not the only problem relating to the M50 but this and other issues are being addressed by the upgrading, which will assist traffic flow.

Motorists want to know when it is likely there will be alleviation and what will happen for the duration of the works, which I accept are necessary. It is proposed to put in a grade separation at the Red Cow interchange where works went on for three years on the Luas. Now we start all over again to put in a grade separation and this will create circumstances that are almost impossible for motorists. Between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and during peak hours in the evening the circumstances are impossible and full scale refurbishment works to put in new lanes and grade separations during this period will make it virtually impossible for motorists. What are the Government's recommendations?

The Taoiseach seems to have examined the contract and he stated a buy out is not feasible. Perhaps the contract entered into was imprudent from the point of view of the State and the taxpayer but we are stuck with it. When is barrier free tolling likely to be implemented? That is what the motorist on the M50 wants to know. It is unconscionable that he or she should be asked to continue to pay a toll during the period of refurbishment. Can a temporary relief be negotiated with the company to open the toll plaza for the duration of the works? Does the contract prevent the building of a new bridge? Is the Minister for Transport concerned about this issue? Will proposals emerge to provide alleviation for people not only from west Dublin who cannot get to work in the morning but from the surrounding dormitory towns, particularly in Counties Kildare and Meath?

There are three or four points. The Deputy accepts the additional works are vitally necessary and the Government has been pressing to get on with them. Procurement and related issues have been addressed.

The issue on the contract is because NTR is involved in the funding of the project, a buy out is not an option because that will affect the work.

The Deputy asked what alleviation can be provided to assist motorists during the period of construction. That is a fair point and I will address that issue with the Minister. There have been meetings on this issue but I do not know their conclusions. However, I accept the Deputy's point that if conditions worsen during construction, that will be a greater difficulty, which must be addressed. As the works will start in a number of months, that must be done now. The NRA, NTR and the Minister dealt with this last October and November.

I also asked to have the wider issue addressed last year by the Cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure. The discussions on the current contract went on for some time and it was tied up in 1984. However, the projections for 2015 to 2018 that were used have long been exceeded. Looking to the next decade, I do not believe that even the enhanced works will be enough. When the Spanish built their version of the M50 around Madrid, they also wisely built an outer road and this issue must be examined for the longer term. I accept the Deputy is raising the short-term inconvenience but there is no way the M50 will resolve the problem in the long term, even with the enhanced works. That is my view having listened to the presentation by the NRA and the Department of Transport.