As Minister for Transport, I have responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the national roads programme element of Transport 21. The implementation of individual national road projects, such as the proposed Dublin Eastern Bypass, is a matter for the National Roads Authority under the Roads Act, 1993 in conjunction with the relevant local authorities concerned.
As I indicated in response to a similar Parliamentary Question on 30 January 2008, two reports were commissioned by the NRA in 2000 and 2002 on the feasibility of constructing the Eastern Bypass. In the context of the launch of Transport 21 in late 2005, the NRA engaged consulting engineers to update these two studies by undertaking a further engineering and feasibility study of the Bypass. This study examines possible route options, forecasts traffic demand and reports on scheme costs for the various options examined. The report of this work was conveyed to this Department late last year and is currently under examination by my officials.