A driver clung desperately to windscreen wipers as he was carried along a busy dual carriageway on the bonnet of a car after a fellow motorist drove into him following a minor collision.

Almost €8m has been paid to compensate the private toll companies operating the Limerick Tunnel and M3 motorway for lower- than-expected traffic volumes.

Motorists will face a range of new penalty point offences from early 2014 under legislation being introduced by the Government.

Truckers are in for a free ride next month as four motorway tolls are being lifted to get HGVs out of villages and off country roads.

It was one of the most controversial road schemes ever built — but now the M3 motorway is making tens of millions of euro in profits for its private operator.

The National Roads Authority is expected to suffer a net loss of up to €6m from the operation of eight toll roads on the motorway network this year.

An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, has today welcomed An Bord Pleanála's refusal of plans for a controversial bypass around Slane village.

More than 25,000 people have lined the fairways and filled the stands at the stunning Killeen Castle venue today, to watch the 2011 Solheim Cup.

A total of €73m in fees have been paid to financial experts, lawyers and other consultants contracted by the Government since the financial crisis hit.

Goldikova’s eagerly-anticipated clash with Canford Cliffs remains on the cards in next week’s Queen Anne Stakes with the two star milers both among the six-day entries for Royal Ascot.

Dense freezing fog was causing difficulties for motorists this morning, especially in the midlands where a major crash caused a closure of the Dublin-Limerick road, according to AA Roadwatch.

A man in his 40s has been killed in a road accident in Co Meath this morning.

The new Dunboyne to Dublin commuter rail service is open to the public today.

ACCORDING to NRA figures, the 60km section of the M3 cost €1 billion.

The National Roads Authority has advised motorists that it has just opened the Dublin side of the new M3 motorway.

Irish writer Colm Toibin has condemned the construction of the controversial M3 motorway which opened today.

The controversial M3 motorway through county Meath opens today - potentially cutting journeys between Cavan and Dublin by an hour.

CONSERVATIONISTS have hit out at Green Party leader John Gormley after his department included the Hill of Tara on a shortlist of seven sites put forward for world heritage status.

PLANS for one of the country’s longest and most expensive motorways linking Cork and Limerick will be lodged with An Bord Pleanála today.

IRELAND’S improving road safety record has been recognised internationally as a major study has ranked the Republic as 10th out of 27 developed countries.

THE Government yesterday outlined details of the €1 billion road plan which will see 292 kilometres of new road completed this year.

America’s influential Smithsonian Institute has included the Hill of Tara in a list of must-see endangered sites, it was revealed today.

THE Smarter Travel sustainable transport policy document published by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey (February 5) takes the public for fools.

NOT content with the crime of treachery (allowing the economy to inflate out of control despite the warnings), Fianna Fáil now plans on stealing some of my salary, without my permission, so that it can bail out its banker and builder friends.

Work is due to get underway this week on a new €160m commuter rail line serving Dunboyne in Co Meath.

The multimillion-pound upgrade of the Westlink in Belfast took a major step forward when the Broadway Underpass opened today 13 months ahead of schedule.

Nobel prize winning poet Seamus Heaney has joined Hollywood actress Charlize Theron and artist Louis le Brocquy in the campaign against the M3 motorway.

Campaigners who lost a lengthy court battle to reroute the controversial M3 motorway are seeking legal advice over reports on the archaeological heritage in the area.

A drawing of Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron by Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick will be auctioned in Dublin today to raise funds for a group campaigning against the route of the M3 motorway in Co Meath.

Two men and a woman have been arrested at Rath Lugh in Co Meath as the standoff over the controversial M3 motorway continues.

CONCERN is growing for the safety of a 26-year-old woman who has locked herself in an underground tunnel and is threatening to collapse it if attempts are made to rescue her.

A HIGH COURT action was launched yesterday aimed at protecting the Lismullin national monument near Tara.

I WISH to congratulate archaeologist Dr Conor Newman for his integrity and courage in saving the Lismullen site on the M3 now under construction.

THE Tara landscape is one of Ireland’s and Europe’s most precious historical archaeological sites, but it is now in the process of being destroyed to facilitate the construction of a motorway.

Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald today called on Minister for the Environment John Gormley to comply with European Commission demands and order a new Environmental Impact Assessment on the M3 at Tara.

WHILE Dáil debates are often duller than ditchwater and generally fail to address questions of importance such as why do Co Meath councillors still claim there were 32 houses in the way of the M3 route outside the valley when the environmental impact statement gave it a positive rating for ‘residential and private property impact’?

NOW that the EU is pursuing legal action against the State for the Government’s failure to assess the true impact of the planned route for the M3, how can Ireland’s political leaders fail also to weigh the prospect of EU fines as well as the serious damage to a priceless heritage against the costs of a better route?

TRANSPORT Minister Noel Dempsey is planning to bring forward plans for an ambitious rail tunnel linking Heuston Station to St Stephen’s Green, the docklands and Pearse Street Station.

I WISH to ask those people who have previously favoured routing the proposed M3 through the Tara valley to reconsider their position and support a re-route of the motorway and the establishment of a Tara Valley World Heritage Park, as set forth by the drafters of the Meath masterplan.

The European Commission is reportedly expected to begin legal action against the Government today over the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

I WOULD like to suggest to the NRA and Meath County Council that the report of the EU Petitions Committee is not as they claim: an EU confirmation “that they have behaved entirely properly throughout this process”. They are twisting the words to suit themselves.

I BELIEVE it’s time for ordinary people to protest to the Government, or through the media, against the cultural vandalism threatening the ancient, sacred site of Tara.