Eamon Ryan has said he would be “reluctant” to take money from road maintenance to reduce or defer toll increases.
The Transport Minister told RTE's Morning Ireland that he was aware the increases were coming either in November or December. Last week, it was announced by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) that it will increase tolls on nine out of ten roads from 1 January to their "maximum level".
There are 10 toll roads on the national road network, and only the Dublin Port Tunnel route will not be affected by the upcoming price increases. Mr Ryan said that if price deferrals or reductions were to happen, the toll operators would have to be compensated because "they are entitled to it".
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He said: "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. These are contracts under law.
"Most of the tolling operators are independent. There are not owned or directed by the Government. They have the right to see an index-linking, which is what this is.” Mr Ryan added that he is hoping to discuss the issue with the Taoiseach and Tanaiste later this week.
In Dublin, the toll increases is expected to impact motorists using the M50 toll. In the next few weeks, car and bus drivers will have to pay a toll increase by either 20 cent or 30 cent depending on the payment method.
For unregistered cars they will have to pay an increase of around 30 cent and tag users will see an increase of 20 cent. Goods vehicles using the M50 are set to be charged between 20 and 60 cent more per journey, depending on the size of the vehicle and the payment method.
TII has said that cars using the tag payment method for the last 10 years won’t see a price increase. There will also be no price increases for motorists using the Dublin Port Tunnel, and currently HGVs travel toll-free through the tunnel.
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