asked the Minister for the Environment if he received any formal or informal written inquiries from persons or organisations in the private sector interested in participating in the provision of toll roads for public use under the Local Government (Toll Roads) Bill, 1979, and, if so, the extent of capital which such communications have indicated as being available and the possible extension to the road network that such proposals would envisage.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Toll Roads.
23.
The queries raised by the Deputy have already been dealt with in the course of the debate on the Local Government (Toll Roads) Bill, 1978, which has been passed by this House and is now before the Seanad. I would refer the Deputy in particular to columns 496 and 511 to 514 of the Dáil Official Report of 27 March last—Volume 313 No. 3. Pending enactment of the Bill and pending consideration of its provisions by both the statutory road authorities and the private sector, I will not be in a position to give any further information to the Deputy on these queries.
I am grateful for that reply, but it does not contain anything new. My question is to ask the Minister if there have been any additional written communications from the private sector indicating interest. I am concerned about the period from March to date.
As I have told the Deputy, interest has been expressed. We would not have any written communica tions mainly because the Bill made it clear that their approach should be to the local authority in question. That is where negotiations should start. I have said I will not be in a position to give any further replies with regard to this question until the Bill is passed, probably this evening, when it may be signed immediately by the President. After that I shall be in a position to give the Deputy a more detailed reply.