The Taoiseach has ruled out any question of the Government buying out the contract for the West Link toll bridge on the M50 motorway in Dublin.
Speaking in the Dáil this morning, Mr Ahern said the solution to the traffic chaos on the notoriously congested roadway was an upgrade project which will involve widening the lanes and also a move towards 'barrier-free' tolling.
Mr Ahern was responding to a question from the Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, on what proposals are in place to alleviate the congestion.
Mr Rabbitte said people would be prepared to pay "reasonable tolls" if there weren't "inordinate" delays on the motorway, especially at peak times in the morning and evening.
He said the situation for motorists at certain times was "virtually impossible" and it would be difficult to imagine the effects of "full-scale refurbishment works" going on at the same time.
He said there could be no attempt to to put in additional lanes on either side and still allow the disruption that goes with the toll plaza.
Mr Rabbitte said that some temporary relief would have to be negotiated with NTR plc, which operates the toll bridge, to allow people go to and from work while the works were going on.
The Taoiseach said the National Roads Authority (NRA) was preparing a contract for the widening and improvement works which was "quite a costly operation". He understood the work would start later this year.
"The buy-out of the NTR contract has not been considered and any consideration of that would obviously have to take account of the costs involved and the implications for the funding of the M50 upgrade project," Mr Ahern said.
He said the Government had been advised by traffic engineers that the solution to the congestion on the M50, including the toll bridge, was the upgrade programme and also a move to barrier-free tolling which was working successfully in other countries.
Mr Ahern added that the Comptroller and Auditor General is carrying out a preliminary review of the West Link concession and would decide whether to carry out a full value-for-money analysis of the contract held by NTR plc.
The recent increase in toll charges, Mr Ahern said, reflected the fact that the toll levels were held below the maximum level over the 2002-2004 period and that the increase was "catching up on the indexation" central to the agreement.