The upgrade to the M50, once completed is going to cost €1billion, three times the estimate given by the National Road Authority (NRA) in 2003. This gives the M50 a total bill of €2 billion and it will have taken 20 years to be completed since the first section opened.
Every morning at 6am, two of the largest sea ferries in the world disgorge, onto Dublin Port, thousands of tons of imports, for sale a few hours later on supermarket shelves throughout Ireland. Within two hours these same ferries leave with thousands more tonnes of exports. Vincent Browne spent a very early morning watching the Irish economy on the move.
New figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that overseas travel by Irish people has continued to increase significantly. The CSO survey shows that almost 98000 more Irish residents travelled overseas this September than last September. The figures show 731400 trips abroad in that month, compared with 638500 in 2006, an increase of 14.5 per cent.
Dublin's newest train station is handling half its expected passenger numbers. Ballyfermot is to lose its train station, catering for 25,000 people. By Tom Rowe
A car safety device, proven to save lives and widely available in Europe, is not being fitted as standard in cars for the Irish market or promoted by the Road Safety Authority or the government. Patrick Boyle investigates
International consultants are carrying out an audit of the Irish Aviation Authority's safety and licensing activities following complaints from various organistaions. By Frank Connolly
IBEC claims the heavy truck ban in Dublin city centre may contravene EU internal market rules. By Emma Browne
Dublin Airport's expansion plan will cost at least €8.4 billion in climate change damage alone, and waste €13 billion in total according to a press release by United Portmarnock Residents Opposing Another Runway (UPROAR).
The Commission for Taxi Regulation is to issue all taxi drivers with dashboard ID and a “smartcard” which will show a photograph, name of drivers, licence number and expiry of licence. The smartcard, which will be the size of a credit card, will also contain a microchip allowing the commission's enforcement team to electronically read it and check the taxi driver's identity and licence status. As well as these two identifications the taxi drivers will also be provided with a portable photo ID as well.
Wexford Fine Gael TD Paul Keogh has called for the publication of a Bus Éireann report into a bus crash in Waterford city in 2004. The crash resulted in 18 people being injured when one bus hit another, then mounted the footpath, narrowly missing a busy bus stop. At the time the driver reported a "power surge" as the reason for the crash.