Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said he does not favour an increase to road tolls. Mr Donohoe said he would be “very reluctant” to see “anything that further adds to the cost of living at the moment”.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) recently announced there would be a 10 cent increase in tolls for cars, buses, coaches and lighter goods vehicles travelling on the M50 from January 1st that are not registered with a toll service provider.
There is no increase for cars travelling on the M50 that are registered with a toll account.
The Dublin Tunnel (formerly Dublin Port Tunnel) will see an increase of €1 for southbound traffic at peak morning time, meaning it rises from €12 to €13.
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There will also be a 10 cent increase in tolls for buses, coaches and HGVs on the eight toll roads outside of the greater Dublin region – the M1, M3, M4, M6, M7/M8, N8, N25 Waterford city bypass and the N18 Limerick tunnel.
Speaking in the Dáil last week, Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien called on TII and the tolling companies “not to proceed” with the planned increases and that they were “far too high”.
Mr Donohoe said on Wednesday that he would agree with the Minister “in principle” but that such decisions were made independent of Government.
“I do agree with the broad approach that he’s [Mr O’Brien] outlining and in recent years, particularly when inflation was at its highest, we did our best to avoid those kind of toll changes happening,” he said.
The Dublin Central TD said commuters had already experienced changes in carbon taxation and increases in the price of petrol and diesel.
“The [toll] changes are made independently of Government, but I think anything that further adds to the cost of living at the moment is something I’d be very reluctant to see happen,” he added.
Separately, when questioned whether the Tánaiste Micheál Martin was dragging his feet on the Government publishing its revised housing targets ahead of the general election, Mr Donohoe said “not at all”. However, Mr Donohoe said he did not know whether the targets would be set out over the coming weeks.
Taoiseach Simon Harris has previously said he wants the targets published ahead of going to the polls but recent reports have suggested Mr Martin has pushed back on setting them before the general election.
“There is a very good engagement under way in Government in relation to it,” Mr Donohoe said. “As to whether they’ll be published in the coming days and weeks, I don’t know the answer to that question. I know we’re working in relation to it, but the really important thing is that we can point to the progress that we have made in the building of more homes.”
The Minister added that his preference would be to have “a shared view” from Government on the targets.
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