I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this item for discussion. The word "crisis" may be overused but not as it applies to the chronic traffic congestion of west Dublin. Two factors are responsible for the intolerable conditions in the west of the county being worse than elsewhere. They are the ongoing Luas works and the West Link toll bridge.
At peak times the congestion on the M50, the Red Cow roundabout and the Naas Road is at crisis proportions. On occasion traffic comes to a halt entirely and it is often not immediately apparent why this has happened. At peak times it scarcely moves at best and there is no policing of the traffic chaos. A simple temporary obstacle can have disastrous implications leading to mile long tailbacks. Traffic at peak times is backed up from the toll bridge as far as the Red Cow roundabout.
Changes arising from the Luas works are aggravating an already chaotic situation. Nobody accepts responsibility – not the Garda, the local authority, the NRA, or the Government – and meanwhile citizens cannot get to work without experiencing acute stress and frustration. The toll plaza at the West Link bridge is tantamount to a barrier across the road.
I make four suggestions to the Minister of State for immediate implementation. Gardaí should be assigned to point duty in the area for as long as the Luas works continue. The West Link toll bridge should be thrown open at peak times morning and evening. A dedicated traffic corps should be established reporting to a single director of traffic and the Minister should enter negotiations with the owners of the franchise on the West Link bridge to buy it back immediately for the State so that the toll plaza which impedes traffic can be scrapped.
The M50 is no more now than a distributor road for Dublin and therefore unsuitable for the levying of a toll that only serves to back up traffic for miles around. As Operation Freeflow proved, the intervention of gardaí can help keep the traffic moving and take action on temporary minor obstacles. The cost on the State requiring that the toll plaza be thrown open at peak times would be but a fraction of the economic cost of the delays now being encountered. The same economic costs to business and motorists through aggravation would entirely justify the State acquiring the bridge, by negotiation or by CPO if necessary, in advance of its normal lifespan.
A dedicated traffic corps is long overdue and I have long advocated its establishment. The Minister of State should deal with resistance from the Garda the way he dealt with the penalty points system. There should be no tolerance of turf wars or the kind of dithering that characterised the previous Government's response to straightforward decision making in the transport area.
I know the Minister of State is not responsible for the Department but I ask him to tear up the script and address this motion as a person who must be caught in the chaos every working morning and evening of his life. It cannot go on. The economic cost to business and industry is enormous. The aggravation and frustration for citizens who cannot get to work in the morning is intolerable. Once in a blue moon gardaí tootle by on their motorbikes oblivious to the world of any obstacle in the path of traffic.
The Minister has got kudos, and I join in commendation of him, for making minor straightforward decisions such as telling the Garda to implement the penalty points system or for making other sensible changes that should have been done years ago. Sin ceist eile. On this issue why can we not take some stance to alleviate the standstill, the aggravation and the congestion in west Dublin in order to give hard pressed motorists some relief? Surely a few gardaí could be put on point duty to remove temporary obstacles.
We cannot persist with the toll plaza on a distributor road. It should at least be thrown open at peak times. The cost in money would rebound to the State tenfold. The situation is intolerable and I ask the Minister of State to get up and tell us what he thinks should be done.
