Ireland: Road operator Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) has announced an increase in toll rates

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User fees on nine toll roads will increase by around 10% on January 1, 2023 as operators try to keep tolls in line with inflation.

Price increases will not rise above the rate of inflation, and between August 2021 and 2022, all nine roads will increase their tolls to a maximum of 8.9% inflation.

In contrast to the M50 and Dublin Port Tunnel, which are run by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, eight of the ten toll roads on the national road network are operated under a "Public Private Partnership" arrangement (TII).

The Port Tunnel tolls won't change, according to TII's announcement today, while the M50 fees will go up by 20 or 30 cents, depending on the type of vehicle.

The tolls were rounded to the closest 10 cents after being multiplied by the inflation rate of 8.9%.

Pre-registered tags for vehicles on the M50 will now cost €2.30 instead of the current €2.10 fee.

The biggest change for drivers will be for those travelling the M50 in a car that hasn’t been registered, a current cost of €3.20 that will rise to €3.50.

The eight ‘Public Private Partnership’ roads will increase, with tolls for a car on the M1, M7/M8, M8, N6, N25WF and N18-L,T to rise from €2.00 to €2.10, and for LGV and bus tolls to increase from €3.50 to €3.80.

A car on the M3 will cost 10 cent more in January at €1.60, while M4 car tolls will go from €3.00 to €3.20.

Speaking on the reason for an increase in M50 tolls, TII stated:

"The M50 is a user-pay freeway that is financed by a tolling system without barriers. The M50 toll supports the maintenance and operation of the M50, and TII is mandated by law to maintain a safe and effective network of national roads.

"A postponement of the M50 toll increase would have necessitated reallocating funding from other national road projects and reducing funding for asset management and renewal activities."

Junior minister Hildegard Naughton said the government needed to hold talks on delaying or scrapping the toll price hike announced.

Speaking to reporters at the Fine Gael Ard Fheis, Minister of State at the Department of Transport Hildegarde Naughton said that the decision to increase the toll charge was made by the TII and that the Government believed it to be poor timing.

“Certainly from the government’s point of view, the timing of this is not good when we’re looking at cost of living measures,” Naughton said, adding that there will be engagement between the TII and the Government.

Naughten responded, "I think these are conversations that truly need to happen now," in response to the question of whether the Government will ask the TII to postpone or cancel the hike.

We must have these discussions about how to handle this because we don't want to offer with one hand while taking with the other.

TII defended the M50 toll hike in a statement earlier this week, claiming that postponing the increase would have required reallocating revenue from other highways.

"The M50 is a user-pay freeway that is financed by a tolling system without barriers. A safe and effective network of national highways must be maintained by TII in accordance with legal requirements, and the M50 toll helps to pay for this maintenance and operation.

“A deferment of the toll increase on the M50 would have required funding to be reallocated from other national road projects and reduce funding for asset management and renewal activities.”