Tolls on the country’s national road network are to increase from 1 July, the Department of Transport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have confirmed.
This follows the conclusion of the Government’s six-month deferment of toll increases on 30 June and the standard regulated toll in line with the inflationary increase will take effect on 1 July.
TII today released a statement confirming the toll increases are driven by the current rate of inflation (CPI) and cannot go above inflation stating that the CPI increased by 8.6% between August 2021 and August 2022.
A spokesman for the Department of Transport confirmed that the deferred toll price will apply from July 1st pointing to the TII statutory notices on the increases.
There are ten toll roads on the national road network. Eight are operated under a “Public Private Partnership” (PPP) model and two are operated directly on behalf of TII, which are the M50 and Dublin Port Tunnel.
The toll increases will go up to their maximum rate due to inflation on the M50 and the eight PPP routes, but there will be no increase on the Dublin Port Tunnel.
Tolls on the M50 are to increase by 30c for cars without tags, bringing the toll paid to €3.50, while cars with video accounts will see an increase from €2.70 to €2.90.
Cars with tags face a 20c increase to €2.30 and TII pointed out that there has been no increase on motor car tolls on the M50 for registered vehicles with tags for ten years to 1 July 2023.
On the M1, M7, M8, N6, N25 at Waterford and N18 Limerick Tunnel, tolls for cars will increase from €2 to €2.10, while on the M3, car tolls will rise 10c to €1.60.
On the M4, there will be an increase of 20c for cars to €3.20.
Last November, the proposed increases and their timing in the context of cost of living pressures caused division in Government.
The timing was criticised by then Taoiseach Micheál Martin and then Tanaiste Leo Varadkar, while Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan indicated in interviews that he accepted the proposed increases.
A Department of Transport spokesman said that the estimated cost of the six-month deferral would be around €12.5m, based on the toll income that would be foregone by not applying the increase, along with administration charges and associated legal costs.
The TII said that “toll revenue is used for purposes including motorway maintenance, toll collection and operations, and for the maintenance of the wider national road network”.
News Courtesy : RTE