Mr. Peter Walsh:

There are costs to maintaining and operating the national road network. Those costs are currently met in part by the toll on the M50. If they are not to be met in that way, they will have to be met from general taxation. The State has given TII a mechanism for raising revenue to help meet the costs of operating and maintaining the road network. It is a mechanism we are obliged to use. One can argue about whether it should or should not be used to the maximum levying capacity. We have a second consideration in this which is to do with maintaining functionality. I do not want to give the impression that we do not appreciate the hardship people may be suffering in terms of additional costs, but the obligation on us to use the facilities made available to us by the Oireachtas is one we take seriously. We cannot just decide that we are not going to utilise those facilities in the manner in which they are intended to be used.

Each of the toll schemes have what is called an explanatory statement associated with them, in which the logic of the toll charge is explained. For the toll on the port tunnel, the logic of it was to give access to the port, which is a hugely important facility as our link to the rest of the world for 85% of our imports and exports. The concern there is not to have congestion impeding the passage of heavy goods vehicles. As long as that is happening, there should be no increase. The M50 is different. There is a requirement there to try to control congestion and also to raise revenue.