Drivers will be hit with a rise in toll fares on two of the country's busiest stretches of road from Sunday.

Transport Minister Martin Cullen today defended the €2.50 toll on the new Kilcock/Kinnegad Bypass – the most expensive in the country.

SIAC, the civil engineering and construction group, has reported an 11% increase in pre-tax profits to €4.5m for last year, up from just over €4m in 2003.

Civil engineering and building services group SIAC Construction Limited today announced an 11% increase in pre-tax profits to €4.5m.

IN RESPONSE to Conor Newman’s letter (Irish Examiner, October 9), I would like to point out that rather than “rid the Tara landscape” of archaeological sites, the current archaeological work has added 38 new sites, none of which was known about before our work, because they were hidden beneath the ground with no visible presence on the landscape.