Since 2001 I have been raising with the Taoiseach the daily torment inflicted on motorists who must use the West Link toll bridge. During this time the Government has prevaricated and taken different positions. Now, within sight of the general election, we read it has decided to buy the bridge. Will the Taoiseach state the exact position? Yesterday's announcement which coincided with the additional chaos arising from the diversion of 2,200 trucks from the port tunnel onto the bridge does not seem to advance us beyond what the Taoiseach told the House last November. The deal has not been concluded and the Minister states in the small print of the statement that he hopes it will be concluded soon. The situation on the bridge has been dramatically worsened by 2,200 trucks, which are the equivalent of 6,000 cars, and by the commencement of the renovation of the M50. These factors have made the already intolerable circumstances confronting motorists immensely worse. Is it the case that buying back this bridge, the original deal for which was €38 million, will cost us €600 million? The original deal signed by Pádraig Flynn and George Redmond——

Two sound men.

——was supposed to give value for money.

For some.

Whoever got the money, it did not give value to motorists. Now, apparently, we are spending €600 million to buy it back and an additional €113 million for the installation of an electronic tolling system.

It was the sale of the century.

When the Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, tells me that €113 million will be spent on an electronic tolling system——

Dangerous signals.

——I am reminded of his familiarity with electronics. My heart goes down to my shoes, just as they do when I hear that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Martin, has a briefing document.

Deputy Rabbitte might check his own records regarding the original purchase. Mr. Liam Kavanagh had a role in it while he was a Minister in a coalition Government.

Deputy Rabbitte without interruption.

As an interesting aside, this is the same Department of Transport which, when Deputy Brennan was Minister, pledged that Cork Airport would be debt free. I became concerned about the impact on passengers in Cork when I read a report in the Irish Examiner quoting the Minister, Deputy Martin, as being confident that charges will not increase in Cork.

Crash landing Martin.

Deputy Rabbitte is allowed only one question.

I had some hope for the travellers in Cork until the Minister said he was confident.

This Government did a lot more for Cork than Deputy Rabbitte ever did.

Deputy Rabbitte is only a three card trick man.

I ask the Taoiseach whether the deal has been done and how much it will cost. When will barrier-free tolling be installed? What will be the position for motorists in the 18 months before the installation of barrier-free tolling? Is it true that tolling will be in place at only one point——

Deputy Rabbitte's time has concluded.

——or will there be tolling at a number of points?

I ask the Deputy to give way to the Taoiseach.

The small print of what the Minister said is there will be tolling at one point until the infrastructure is in place. Does that mean there will be tolling at a number of points?

There will not. Deputy Rabbitte should not be disingenuous.

I am entitled to ask the question.

I ask Deputy Rabbitte to give way to the Taoiseach. He has already used five minutes of the time allotted for his question.

I recall what the Minister, Deputy Cullen, told us regarding electronic voting machines.

Deputy Rabbitte supported electronic voting machines.

I took it on good faith and look at what happened.

Deputy Rabbitte should give way to the Taoiseach.

We had an election——

I ask the Minister to allow Deputy Rabbitte to conclude.

He is a failure.

The Minister, Deputy Martin, has to observe the same rules as Deputy Finian McGrath or anybody else.

He should hang his head in shame.

Are no photographs being taken this morning?

Deputy Rabbitte has exceeded five minutes with his question and I ask him to allow the Taoiseach to speak.

I cannot hear the Ceann Comhairle.

Deputy Rabbitte was entitled to two minutes in which to ask his question.

Not at all, I spoke briefly but I was interrupted.

I ask the Deputy to resume his seat and allow the Taoiseach to answer.

Somebody on the benches opposite must have sent the Minister, Deputy Martin, away to have his photograph taken.

I ask the Taoiseach ——

I ask Deputy Rabbitte to give way to the Taoiseach. He has used almost six minutes on his questions. He is entitled to two minutes.

The Ceann Comhairle did not threaten the Minister, Deputy Martin.

The contract is within two weeks of being signed. There will be one tolling point on the road in the short term and in the long term.

In the short term.

Please, Deputy Allen.

Let him answer.

Please what?

I ask the Deputy to stop interrupting.

The taxpayer wants to know.

I want to answer the Deputy.

The Taoiseach's Ministers were interrupting.

The contract will be finished in two weeks and there will be one tolling point on the road. The contract for the new operator of the barrier-free toll is under negotiation and will be awarded shortly. That should be in place in 2008. Phases one and three of the construction of the M50, which is a €1 billion project, will be finished to coincide with the implementation of barrier-free tolling. That should have a significant impact on the efficiency and movement of the 100,000 vehicles which travel the M50. We have been endeavouring, along with the completion and major success of the tunnel and the work on the Naas road, to finish the intervening sections. It will take three to three and a half years, or until the end of 2010, to complete all stages of the upgrade of the M50. Barrier-free tolling and the completion of phases one and three and, by 2010, the later phases should have a significant impact.

It is not going to work.

The key point is not additional money. When we buy National Toll Roads' rights on the road for €50 million, the income will come back to the State for upgrading the M50. It will not be a case of double money because NTR will cease to receive it. That is how the contract will operate. We made the decision and there has been no change. One year ago, I said in this House that the NRA, with the agreement of the Minister for Transport and the Government, decided the arrangement with NTR under the 1987 agreement for the collection of tolls on the West Link until 2020 would end and those discussions have continued for eight months. NTR has to be compensated in line with an agreement entered into by the Government and the local authorities and we are duty bound to deliver. The Minister will conclude those agreements in the next few weeks.

In respect of the tunnel, Deputy Rabbitte may take issue with the figures but I want to congratulate all the engineers involved. It was the biggest infrastructure project ever completed by the State. The HGV management strategy introduced by Dublin City Council was a tremendous success.

It was a disaster.

I also thank the truckers for the 50% increase. The reason we built the tunnel was to take vehicles away from residential areas and put them onto the M50. That was the plan 20 years ago. There has been a reduction of 80% in the number of trucks going through and polluting residential areas all over the city and they are now on a road on which €1 billion is being spent for construction. Admittedly, it would have been nice if people had been able to foresee that a successful Government would have had economic growth of 7% for ten years or that the road would have had a significant impact.

The Taoiseach will get another election out of that.

Nobody saw that.

It is about planning.

People were estimating 20,000 cars per year in 2010 rather than the 100,000 we have. The infrastructure for the Naas road and the tunnel has been enormously successful.

The Red Cow roundabout.

The intervening work is now under way. Two phases will be completed next year and work on the other phase will be complete by 2010. It is sensible to remove NTR from the equation, introduce barrier-free tolling and complete the €1 billion project. Completion of the work will mean a lot to Deputy Rabbitte's constituents and to people generally.

Do I take it from the Taoiseach's reply that within two weeks the bridge will be bought back for €600 million and that the current private toll will be replaced by a public toll? What is the position in respect of the 18 months before barrier-free tolling will be implemented? Ireland penalises motorists more than any country in the European Union in terms of taxation, such as VRT, and the cost of using this bridge, which comes to approximately €1,300 for a family that uses it to commute to and from work each day. This constitutes an imposition on motorists. When the Taoiseach states that he is caught by the contract entered into on behalf of the State by the former Minister, Pádraig Flynn, and George Redmond——

The Deputy should not forget that Liam Kavanagh put the deal together.

Who signed it?

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, should allow Deputy Rabbitte to speak without interruption.

Who signed it?

Deputy Rabbitte, without interruption.

I ask the Taoiseach——

Liam Kavanagh put it together.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Cullen, and Deputy Penrose should allow Deputy Rabbitte to speak without interruption.

Members should know the facts.

The Minister did not know many facts on "Morning Ireland". He was misrepresenting the truth.

As for the Taoiseach being stuck with the contract, is it not the case that there is a term in the contract that requires the operator to provide adequate tolling in respect of the traffic flows? This has never been done and the State has never taken any action. This is the same Department and these are the same Ministers who gave us the Luas and the port tunnel at three times their projected costs——

At half the height.

——and has now created the mess in Cork and Shannon Airports about which Opposition Members warned in this House.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

Moreover, the same Department and one of the transient Ministers gave a black and white commitment to the people of Cork that they would not be laboured with the debt following the construction of the airport terminal. However, this has all changed. Consequently, in such circumstances, why should motorists accept what the Government is now saying?

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach appears to be holding open the option of a multitolling point as soon as the infrastructure is installed. I presume he refers to the grade separations that must be installed at a number of points along the M50. Why not call the operator's bluff——

The Deputy's time has concluded.

——and lift the tolls for the duration of the renovation until the implementation of barrier-free tolling? Why not test the bluff and the engineers' advice? It would be interesting to give motorists some relief for one month by raising the obstacles on that bridge on a trial basis. Such an initiative should be monitored to ascertain the outcome because there will be no relief for the next 18 months for motorists.

Deputy Rabbitte's time has concluded.

The renovation of the M50 itself is under way contemporaneously with these developments. Moreover, the feed of trucks from the port tunnel adds to the congestion.

I ask Deputy Rabbitte to give way to the Taoiseach.

As soon as the port tunnel has been built——

The Deputy has used eight minutes on questions and only seven minutes in total are allocated for the question.

——his partner in Government wants to move the port.

I ask the Deputy to give way to the Taoiseach.

What relief does the Taoiseach offer to motorists for the next 18 months?

Deputy Rabbitte should sit down. He is losing the argument.

The Taoiseach's partners are deserting the sinking ship in Cork at present.

The position is that the Government decided to buy out NTR from a contract dating from 1987. As for the arguments on who negotiated the contract, the records make it clear who did so. However, that is neither here nor there.

From August 2008, a new company will take over the barrier-free tolling. Negotiations in this regard are ongoing and it will be appointed shortly. This will coincide with the completion of the work of phases 1 and 3 of the M50 upgrade, on which a total of €1 billion is being spent. Another phase will be completed by 2010. From 2008, the revenues that will be generated on the M50 will revert to the State. Such revenues are approximately €45 million at present and, depending on their levels, they will go towards the upgrade of the road.

However, the Government must complete the contract. As I noted, it is not double money. I believe that developments on both the Naas Road and on either side of the M50 are crucial in this respect because more or less the same traffic goes on to it. I am aware of the view that the easy solution would be to remove the toll, after which everything would be resolved.

Try it.

It has been done a number of times. I was even present on one occasion at which a trial was conducted. The engineers involved are the same people who have undertaken the biggest infrastructural job in Europe recently and their view is that doing so would accomplish very little. While a car going straight through might benefit, on the interchanges and on a number of the other points, they believe it would create far more difficulty. All the advice was to finish the Naas Road and the tunnel, perform the upgrade and get rid of the toll barriers. We have followed a consistent policy that is now approximately three years from completion.

I readily admit that the difficulty arose because 20 years ago, when negotiating the contract, people believed there would be 25,000 cars by 2010 whereas there are now 100,000 cars. They did not envisage 7,000 trucks and thought there would be approximately 2,000 trucks. They did not envisage the extent of the increase. However, this happens throughout the world. It happens in respect of airports and rail lines and people continually upgrade them.

It does not happen as often as it happens here.

It is the reason that infrastructural development is an ongoing process throughout the world.

The Naas Road and the tunnel are finished and €1 billion is being spent on the M50. The Government will buy out NTR and will remove the barrier toll. It will be a single price in that people will go through it and receive one account for one crossing. It will not be multipoint and this will be in place by August 2008. The total completion of the M50 upgrade will occur in 2010.