Mr. Lorcan O'Connor:

They are slightly different, in that the by-laws under which the Dublin Port tunnel is set up are very much geared around traffic management and ensuring that heavy goods vehicles can get to the port unimpeded.

Therefore, particularly at prime peak times, the rate needs to be set such that the trucks can continue to flow through that tunnel. It is marginal at the moment. Hence, the pricing is set at a level to try to ensure the port is delivering on its original objectives of gaining access for those heavy goods vehicles to the port.

The M50 generates over €200 million a year and that is not insubstantial by any means. It is an extremely important element of our overall circa €600 million programme for the protection and renewal of the road network. That is an extremely important element, which we need to spend to ensure we maintain the existing asset all around the country. Were those tolls to disappear overnight, there would be a big hole to be filled. In relation to the increase, which as the Cathaoirleach said is generally 10 cent, it is linked to a consumer price index-based calculation. The reason there were certain nuances between tags and non-tags is that when the CPI calculation is run the increase is either rounded up or down to the nearest 10 cent. There may have been categories where the increase applied last year but because of rounding they do not kick in this year and it might-----