'Toll charges have already paid for the road': Cork TD calls for pause on any increases to M8 tolls

CORK Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould has said there should be a pause in increases on tolls for the M8, as it been more than paid for.

His comments come following the announcement of the second price hike in a year on the main route connecting Cork and Dublin, as well as nine other premium routes across the country.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) announced the private car toll for travelling the M8 would increase from €2.10 to €2.30 on January 1. This latest hike follows an increase at the end of June from €1.90 to €2.10.

Toll charges are decided by using an inflation adjustment mechanism called the Consumer Price Index (CPI). That increased by 6.3% between August 2022 and August 2023, and this has resulted in increased tolls for all vehicle categories on all toll concession roads.

According to Mr Gould, this increase would cost the weekday commuter from outside the toll belt at least €100 per year to travel to and from Cork, and the Government should not discourage traffic on what he described as “the core route” between the two main cities if they were serious about correcting regional imbalances.

“TII have confirmed that on average they collect €13.9m a year from the tolls on the M8,” said Mr Gould, referring to a response he had received from TII to a Dáil question he had posed.

“Over the course of the last 15 years since 2007, this has raised approximately €222.4m.

“The road itself cost €171m. The reality is that now the toll charges should have almost entirely cleared the cost of the road. There should be no toll increases in this circumstance.”

In the full response to Mr Gould’s Dáil question, Michael Kennedy, TII’s head of regulatory and administration, said income generated by the toll was used for, among other items, the repayment of debt and financing costs incurred in the design and construction of the road.

“Prior to the handback to the public sector at the end of the concession, the upgrade of all the facilities is necessary (eg road resurfacing, relining etc) in order to provide the required residual life for the road,” he wrote, adding that other items the toll revenue was used for included maintenance, landscaping, signage, lighting safety barriers, winter maintenance, and road management.

Mr Gould said owning a car was becoming “more and more expensive” due to fuel costs as well as maintenance, and that public transport was not feasible for many looking to travel to Dublin.