Seanad Report: The Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, indicated that a State buyout of National Toll Roads (NTR), on the basis that the West-Link toll plaza was causing congestion and that National Roads Authority was earning super-profits, was not a realistic option.
However, Shane Ross (Ind) noted that the Minister had not ruled out a buyout, which he said could take several forms. The NRA had made it clear through its language at yesterday's meeting of the Transport Committee that a buyout was on the table and would be possible, added Mr Ross.
Mr Cullen said that where tolls were abolished altogether, the relevant agreement provided that the NRA must make a monthly payment to NTR - calculated on the basis of the preceding 12 months' average - to the value of the lost revenues, with such amount indexed each year by reference to the consumer price index, in respect of the remaining years of the Toll Concession Agreement, which would run until 2020.
Any consideration of the buyout of NTR's rights would have to take account of the cost involved and the implications for the national roads programme if the cost had to come from the funding provision available for the programme, and the implications for the funding for the M50 upgrade. The solution to the peak-hour congestion on the M50 required the implementation of the upgrade project and as part of that a move to open tolling at the West-Link.
Subject to a favourable decision from An Bord Pleanála on the upgrade proposal, the NRA envisaged the design and building contract for phase one would be awarded by October next and the PPP contract for the remainder would follow next year.
Two Fine Gael members advocated that there be a ban on opinion polls or their publication in advance of elections. Frank Feighan said there had been a very flawed opinion poll in the lead-up to the recent Meath byelection. In the interest of democracy, the relevant minister should be invited into the House with a view to ensuring that such polls could not be published in any newspaper less than a month before a general election.
Paul Coghlan referred to "the most recent grossly inaccurate opinion poll in a normally reputable and reliable county newspaper".
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Asking for a debate on the commercial ethics and social responsibility of public limited companies, Timmy Dooley (FF) said that further to the slash and burn approach adopted by Bank of Ireland, "we now have a situation where the Kerry Group have decided to terminate the contracts of 12 small milk hauliers in the Clare region."
"This kind of reprehensible behaviour should not be allowed to continue," he added.