Tolls to increase on most Irish motorways from July

Gordon Deegan

The Department of Transport and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) have confirmed that tolls on the country’s national road network are to increase from July 1st.

This follows the conclusion of the Government’s six-month deferment of toll increases on June 30th and the standard regulated toll in line with the inflationary increase will take effect on July 1st.

TII on Tuesday released a statement confirming the toll increases are driven by the current rate of inflation (CPI) and cannot go above inflation. The body said the CPI increased by 8.6 per cent between August 2021 and August 2022.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport confirmed that the deferred toll price will apply from July 1st, pointing to the TII statutory notices on the increases.

There are 10 toll roads on the national road network – eight are operated under a “Public Private Partnership” (PPP) model and two are operated directly on behalf of TII, which are the M50 and Dublin Port Tunnel.

The toll increases will go up to their maximum rate due to inflation on the M50 and the eight PPP routes but there will be no increase on the Dublin Port Tunnel.

Tolls on the M50 are to increase by 30c for cars without tags bringing the toll paid to €3.50 while cars with video accounts will see an increase from €2.70 to €2.90.

Cars with tags face a 20c increase to €2.30 and TII pointed out that there has been no increase on motor car tolls on the M50 for registered vehicles with tags for 10 years to July 1st, 2023.

On the M1, M7, M8, N6, N25 at Waterford and N18 Limerick Tunnel, tolls for cars will increase from €2 to €2.10 while on the M3, car tolls will rise 10c to €1.60.

On the M4 there will be an increase of 20c for cars to €3.20.

Last November the proposed increases and their timing in the context of cost of living pressures caused division in Government and the timing was criticised by then taoiseach Micheál Martin and then tánaiste Leo Varadkar while Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan indicated that he accepted the proposed increases.

The Department of Transport spokesman said the cost of the six-month is estimated at €12.5 million, based on the toll income which would be foregone by not applying the increase, along with administration charges and associated legal costs.

The TII statement said "toll revenue is used for purposes including motorway maintenance, toll collection and operations, and for the maintenance of the wider national road network".