The West-Link Toll Bridge was constructed at a cost of IR30 million - �38 million - and was opened to traffic in March 1990. The bridge is the second highest in Ireland and forms a major link in the Dublin M50 motorway system to Dublin Airport. The bridge, which traverses the River Liffey at the Strawberry Beds, is 385 metres in length with its highest elevation above the river at 41.5 metres. West-Link now handles more than 100,000 vehicles per day compared with the original projection of traffic in 2020 of 45,000 vehicles daily. Fred Barry, the�Chief Executive of the State agency National Roads Authority (NRA), told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee in early 2006, that lawyers had advised the NRA that the 1987 contract was so vague that there were no remedies to take NTR to task on issues such as the standard of service. Former EU Commissioner Padraig Flynn and disgraced ex-planning official George Redmond, signed the controversial deal for the operation of the West-Link Toll Bridge with National Toll Roads Ltd, in August 1987.

NTR plc (formerly National Toll Roads) confirmed today that it has completed its agreement with the National Roads Authority (NRA) in relation to the West-Link toll facility.

Under the terms of the agreement with the NRA, NTR will continue to manage and operate the facility until August 2008, and the NRA will make index linked payments of €50m per annum from August 2008 to March 2020 in respect of the original West-Link concession agreement.

NTR also confirms that it has completed a transaction to monetise the value of the payments to be received from the NRA in respect of the West-Link from August 2008 to March 2020 for an up-front consideration of €488m. NTR will have on-going corporation tax obligations in relation to payments made by the NRA.

NTR will use the funds realised to support its growth plans and to repay debt.

The Government said last February that it plans new legislation to strengthen its power to levy stiff fines on any toll-evading motorists when barrier-free tolling is introduced on the West Link bridge after the �600 million buyout of the bridge from NTR.

Michael Walsh, Group Finance Director, said:  "The completion of the West-Link transaction and the related monetisation mark a further significant milestone in the evolution of NTR plc from an Irish Toll Road company to a leading International Developer and Operator in Renewable Energy and Sustainable Waste Management."