The Taoiseach has vowed that the government will look for ways to “try to ease the pressure off people” in the face of increased road tolls next year.
Micheál Martin said the country is in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and the government’s goal has been to reduce the cost of public services.
The matter will now be debated by the three ruling party leaders when they hold their weekly pre-cabinet meeting tonight.
“There are issues obviously that Eamon (Ryan) has highlighted in terms of the independent nature of TII but we will see what we can do to try and ease pressure on people,” Mr Martin said, reports RTE.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) announced last week that it will increase tolls on nine out of ten roads from January 1, 2023.
The price increases are related to the current inflation rate, which increased by 8.6% between August 2021 and August 2022.
Tolls cannot be increased beyond this rate.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland program today, Minister Eamon Ryan said the increases were ‘contracted by law’.
“Most of the tolling operators are independent, they are not owned or directed by the Government,” he said, reports RTE.
Yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told RTÉ’s Esta Semana program that he would like to see the increases deferred or reduced.
In response, Minister Ryan said that if this were to happen, toll operators should be compensated.
“If that was the case, what I would be very reluctant to do is to take money from what we are spending on, which is increasing public transport, increasing road maintenance,” he said, reports RTE.
Sinn Féin transport spokesman Darren O’Rourke called on Minister Ryan to “bring all possible pressure to bear on toll road operators and TII to scrap price hikes,” reports RTE.
There are ten toll motorways on the national highway network.
Eight are operated under a public-private partnership (PPP) model, while two, the M50 and the Dublin Port Tunnel, are operated directly on behalf of TII.
The Dublin Port Tunnel is the only route that will not be affected by the price increases.
These revenues are used for purposes such as highway maintenance, toll collection and operation, and for the maintenance of the broader national road network.
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