Oireachtas

Authority to sanction road tolls

A MOTION allowing roads to be tolled on the recommendation of the National Roads Authority was passed by 69 votes to 62.

Fri Nov 01 1996 - 00:00

A MOTION allowing roads to be tolled on the recommendation of the National Roads Authority was passed by 69 votes to 62.

The Government motion stressed that tolls would be imposed only after the Minister for the Environment held public consultation and took account of the effect tolls might have on diverting traffic from motorways to residential areas.

The motion was a response to a Fianna Fail motion calling on the Government to "clearly state its opposition to the imposition of tolls on the remainder of the Dublin ring road and the Lee tunnel".

The party's environment spokesman, Mr Noel Dempsey, said the Government's motion was attempting to have it both ways. It pretended to oppose tolls and said "everything will be alright on the night".

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The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, said public toll roads were a new form of taxation. "Those who advocate them are effectively advocating higher Government expenditure and higher taxation. The only toll roads that we have at the moment are on the west and east link bridges which were entirely privately funded projects. They are therefore totally different from roads which were built with national and European funds."

Ms Mairin Quill (PD, Cork North Central) said the private sector should be given a much greater role in the financing and management of the national roads programme. Without it "we will enter the next century with a national road network that is still hopelessly inadequate for the needs of a modern industrial society".

Mr Sean Ryan (Lab, Dublin North) said tolling was an option for further road funding and the Minister for the Environment was correct to point that out and stress that road improvement must continue.

Mr Tommy Broughan (Lab, Dublin North East) said the Fianna Fail motion was hypocritical. That party had already tolled sections of the ring road and western parkway in Dublin and over 20 years laid the foundations for private tolling of public roads.

Mr Tom Kitt (FF, Dublin South) said motorists who paid over £1.7 billion in tax would not accept any more tolls on the Dublin ring road. The Minister should make it clear that he did not approve a toll scheme for the Southern Ring Road.