Road toll increases a tax on ‘getting to work’, Dáil hears

Road toll increases due to come into effect next year are an additional tax on consumers who are already paying “huge tolls”, the Dáil heard on Tuesday.

Sinn Féin transport spokesman Pa Daly described them as a tax on “getting to work, bringing your child to school, and participating in society”.

Introducing his party’s motion in the Dáil calling on the Government to reverse the increases, he said Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien argued during the last general election campaign that toll increases were too high and should not proceed.

Addressing the Minister, he said: “Now at Cabinet you’re standing over the same policy you criticised.” The Kerry TD said it was not yet “a fait accompli” but “a political choice”.

He added that toll increases due in January 2023 were deferred. “That can happen again if there is the political will,” he said.

The board of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) approved increases for the Dublin Tunnel, the M50 and for the eight public-private partnership (PPP) toll concession schemes.

The increases start at 10 cent on the M50 and €1 at the Dublin Tunnel.

Daly said last year the M50 and the Dublin Tunnel – the two public toll roads – together generated €251 million. “That’s about €688,000 every single day,” he added.

Despite the increased tolls, motorists are “still stuck in traffic, congestion is rampant, journeys are getting longer and now the Government want people to pay even more for a deteriorating service”.

He said private operators continued to record substantial profits. “The operator of the Limerick tunnel reports an operating profit of almost €12 million” and toll hikes pushed profits up by 10 per cent.

The Minister pointed out that, under a “two-way” agreement, if traffic volumes do not meet certain thresholds the State pays the toll operator and if traffic volumes exceed certain thresholds the excess toll revenue returns to the State.

“The only scheme in which the State is making payments currently is the Limerick toll, for which €5 million was played in 2025,” he said. “There is no formal consultative role for me as Minister when it comes to tolls,” he said.

He said it is a matter for TII but that they “do not have the right to unilaterally change the basis on which the PPP tolls have been reviewed”.

“It’s an investment priority to ensure the existing motorway and national road networks are maintained to a high level,” he added.

Inflation for major civil projects has increased by 54 per cent since 2020, “particularly for bitumen”, which he said meant the cost of repair had increased substantially.

There is, he added, huge investment in bus and rail services and next year some 140 new services will be announced across the State.