The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, yesterday insisted that the penalty points system was having an effect on road safety despite a spate of recent fatalities.
He said: "In the 19 months since penalty points came in, there have been 100 fewer road fatalities than in the 19 months immediately before they came in. The last month has been bad and worse than last year but last year was the lowest for 40 years, This is the second-best year in 40 years, even though it's worse than last year.
"You can do anything with statistics and at the end of the day, one road death is a death too many and penalty points are aimed at changing the culture - you will probably always have high-profile road fatalities, that's very sad, but the penalty points have made a major contribution towards saving people's lives - 100 in the same period."
Mr Brennan was speaking after turning the first sod on a new €220 million Rathcormac-Fermoy bypass which will provide 17.5 km of new motorway on the Cork-Dublin road. It will take an estimated 17,000 cars out of Fermoy every day as well as reducing journey times.
Mr Brennan said he was confident that both the 20 km Monastervin bypass, which is costing over €130 million, and the 7km Cashel by-pass at a cost €50 million, would be open by the end of 2004. Along with the €230 million widening of 15 km of the Naas Road this would reduce journey times between Cork and Dublin and make driving safer, he said.
"By the end of 2007, the entire route from Cork to Dublin will either be completed or under construction and I did ask the NRA to accelerate the Cork-Dublin motorway and the Galway-Dublin motorway and to finish the Belfast one, because I took the view that three major economic spines across the country were urgently necessary."
"Today's 18 km will bring you into the Watergrasshill by-pass which will give you 35 km of motorway into Cork city. The Monastervin bypass is ahead of schedule, the Cashel bypass is ahead of schedule, so the dots are being joined up and by the end of 2007, every inch of it will either be under construction or finished," he said.
The bypass - which runs from south of Rathcormac to north of Fermoy and is due for completion by the end of 2007 - is costing €220 million with the State providing €130 million. The remainder is coming from the private sector and this investment will be recouped through a toll system to operate for 30 years.
The toll bridge will be located 1 km north of Watergrasshill and the entire project will also include a 450 m viaduct spanning the River Blackwater downstream of Fermoy. In all, a total of 18 major bridges will be included on the project which is being built by consortium, Direct Route (Fermoy) Ltd with Cork County Council providing advance planning and design.
Cork county manager Mr Maurice Moloney said: "The benefits of this bypass will be felt not just in the Fermoy area but throughout the entire Cork region."
National Roads Authority chairman Mr Peter Malone said the signing of the bypass contract meant the NRA had "achieved the milestone of introducing €500 million of private-sector finance into the national roads programme".