The state's first oral hearing of objections to the provision of tolls on the proposed new motorways gets under way in Mullingar next Monday.
The hearing, to be held in Bloomfield House Hotel, is concerned with the National Roads Authority (NRA) plans for tolls on the Kinnegad/Enfield/Kilcock section of the proposed Dublin to Galway motorway.
Opponents of tolling have claimed that because the hearing is being held by the NRA, the inquiry effectively represents the authority sitting in judgment on its own plans.
Enfield residents are particularly concerned about a tolling plaza on the offramp of the motorway accessing the town. Locals claim it will not be possible for traffic to leave the motorway for refreshment or fuel without having to pay a second time to rejoin the motorway.
According to Ms Betty Carey, wife of Meath County Councillor Mr William Carey, locals are furious with the plans. "If you leave the motorway at Enfield and rejoin it you will have to pay the full price all over again. The tolls aren't distance based.
"Obviously they want to protect the motorway from people who may bypass the mainline toll plaza by driving along the old route to Enfield and then joining the motorway. But they have not thought out the damage it will do to us," she insisted.
Ms Carey said if the motorists on the new motorway were forced to pay the extra toll, "they will not stop at Enfield. The toll operators will effectively take the business out of our town".
Ms Carey also maintains councillors in Meath were promised by officials that the road would not be tolled, "particularly as it was suggested that people would use the new road and pay the tolls only at peak times such as Friday and Sunday evenings, travelling on the old roads at other times.
"This is the worst of all possible outcomes for us. The heavy Friday and Sunday traffic doesn't actually cause accidents, but the weekday speeding lorries do. The lorry companies have already said they will not use the roads."
Key NRA staff were on holiday early this week and the authority was unable to provide a spokesman to put its side of the debate.
The oral hearing will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday.