Fine Gael Dublin Mid West TD, Derek Keating, has said that the all too regular occurrences that are causing traffic chaos on the N4 at Leixlip, Lucan and Palmerstown and on the N7 at Clondalkin, Newcastle and Rathcoole must be sorted out once and for all.

He said: "On the main N4 and N7 motorways, we regularly have minor incidents which invariably lead to unacceptable delays around this extremely busy commuter area, especially at morning time.

"All it takes is one crash, excessive rain or a faulty set of traffic lights and thousands of commuters, who are attempting to get to work, are thrown into chaos with delays of up to an hour and longer. This has a negative knock-on effect of frustrating people getting to their place of work, to the point that some have informed me that they have been forced to take the morning off, such is the chaos that is caused when a minor or insignificant traffic event takes place.

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"I am seeking an urgent tripartite meeting with the Garda Traffic Corps, South Dublin County Council Traffic Division and the National Roads Authority in an attempt to address the difficulties that are regularly being experienced.

"On Monday 26th November, I personally witnessed a delay of an hour at the Palmerstown N4 Kennelsfort junction due to faulty traffic lights. The previous week at the Adamstown N4 junction a similar occurrence caused chaos to the point that traffic in Maynooth had to be diverted in two different directions in an attempt to deal with the traffic overflow.

"Every day the traffic in Clondalkin is bumper to bumper, which is a cause of significant frustration for local residents. We have good roads and good motorways but without proper traffic management it all amounts to nought."

(CD/GK)