Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, has provided us with some information in relation to comparators with other countries in terms of exactly some of our toll enforcement applies. The area I wanted to draw attention to is on page 6 of the reply.

That is to do with where people pay more than the due toll at the collection point. The toll roads include the M1, M3, M6 and M7. It is a relatively small amount but the companies can keep those relatively small amounts as revenue. They say they put it back into road maintenance.

I inquired about this and received a reply from the Minister for Transport. This relates to two toll facilities in particular - the Dublin tunnel and one other. In 2019, a sizeable amount was overpaid. That reduced in 2020, which I think was down to level of usage, but continued lower in 2021. That was probably to do with contactless payment and people using tags. The figure has been rounded up in some cases to €2 rather than €1.90 and it is a round figure. That is probably the reason but it is still a sizeable amount that the toll operators get to keep.

They have said this goes back into maintenance but they are not due that money and the way it is treated is a concern for me. It is just treated as their income. We all know local shops routinely get a knock on the door to help with funding jerseys for a local football team but nobody thinks to knock on the door of the toll road companies when they get a sizeable amount that is not earned income.

The only comparison I can make is with Dublin Bus where it ceased giving people refunds because only approximately 10% of people ever went to get the refund where they made an overpayment. Instead, the company put in place a programme of grants for the people in the catchment who would be customers of Dublin Bus. That scheme of grants allows people or groups to make an application for aid. It is a fair process, although it has not been much of a feature in the past couple of years for obvious reasons. Each area benefits from that. I have said it before that such a process would be more appropriate than the toll companies pocketing the money. I have no confidence they are spending over and above what they say they are on maintenance. It is not income they have earned but it comes directly from people's pockets when it should go back to something different.

That is the point I wanted to make. All these companies will have received more than the due toll and some have received considerably more than the toll. It would make a sizeable difference to people in communities. We all know how difficult it is to keep community groups going.