Government ripping off motorists, toll operators should quit upping prices, Sinn Féin TD says

Eva Osborne

The Government is ripping off motorists and should cut the cost of driving, Sinn Féin has said.

The party wants to reverse carbon tax increases and is calling on toll operators to stop putting up prices.

Sinn Féin is being criticised for being soft on climate issues, but the party's spokesperson on transport, Pa Daly, said it is about "fairness".

Speaking on Newstalk, Daly said: "For example, if you live in Newry and you want to get into Dublin on the train, on public transport, by nine o'clock in the morning, you can't do it.

"If you're living in parts of Kerry and you want to travel to work, it's not possible to do that by public transport.

"There are already €4.1 billion in fuel taxes being taken by this government."

The party's calls follow an announcement that the M50, the Dublin Port Tunnel, and Public-Private Partnership (PPP) roads will be affected by toll charge increases from January 1st, 2026.

Following the application of the relevant CPI inflation figure for August 2024 to August 2025 of two per cent, the Board of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) approved these increases in tolls for 2026.

On the M50, all categories of vehicles will experience an increase, except for unregistered motor cars without a tag or video account.

All other categories will increase by 10 cent. Heavy goods vehicles exceeding 10,000kg holding a video account will have 20 cent increase on M50.

On PPP toll roads most car tolls are unaffected, with only users of M4 Kilcock to Kinnegad and M3 Clonee to Kells motorway affected by 10 cent increase.

Cars on the M3 will now pay €1.80 instead of €1.70, and €3.60 instead of €3.50 on the M4.