Madam, - Kevin Myers is right about the wholly inadequate management of out roads (An Irishman's Diary, December 23rd).
Can the genius who thought it made good business sense for the State to hand over control of the West-Link toll bridge please come forward and defend his decision? Why can't our politicians hold this person accountable? We have 166 legislators who have failed to explain the lunacy of trying to recoup approximately 300 million from old age pensioners while the lunacy and the waste of projects such as the West-Link continues. - Yours, etc.,
JOHN KENNY, Moran's Cottages, Ranelagh, Dublin 6.
Madam, - Given that it would cost far too much to expropriate the toll bridge, I suggest that another bridge be built nearby and connected to the M50. Passage over this bridge would be free. Traffic over the toll bridge would then diminish to zero.
It could then be acquired quite cheaply, if wanted. - Yours, etc.,
PATRICK USSHER, Whitechurch, Dublin 16.
Madam, - In your Motors section of December 22nd, National Toll Roads cites the € 24 million cost of the new West-Link bridge as the cause for the increase in the toll. If the figures you give are correct - i.e., 100,000 vehicles per day paying a minimum of €1.8, the total cost of the bridge would be recouped in about months. So in a year NTR could get a 100 per cent profit on the cost of the bridge and give a similar amount to the Government. - Yours, etc.,
BRIAN HODKINSON, Annaholty, Birdhill, Co Tipperary.