“A billion here, a billion there, and soon you’re talking serious money”.

I heard John Ellis on the radio yesterday trying to defend the Government’s decision to spend over €600m of taxpayers money on toll booth on the M50. I had heard rumblings that the Government were going to do this in the run up to the General Election, but I didn’t think they’d actually go through with it.

The net benefit of this to the motorist is that instead of having to wait for a barrier to lift after they pay their toll, the barrier will be removed, probably sometime in 2008. The tolls will remain, as will the traffic jams, and NTR will walk off with a truckload of our money.

Compare this to what the Government has spent on rural transport in the last 5 years: €13m, and what the Government has spent on the Intercity Rail network in the last 5 years: €263m.

Yes, in one fell swoop, the Government is going to spend 46 times as much on a single toll booth as they have spent on public transport in rural Ireland in the last 5 years!