Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I met my UK counterpart, Mr. Hammond, and his officials. They heard me out but made no promises other than to examine the matter further. The Taoiseach's meeting with the Prime Minister was along similar lines. I made the point that we had put money into the A5 already and had committed money for the future. For every argument we have, the UK has a counter-argument and pointed out that our motorways were built with EU Structural Funds, much of which came from British taxpayers. They also pointed out that we impose tolls on HGVs whereas they have no tolls in Northern Ireland and very few in Britain. The solution may exist in the survey suggested by Deputy Dooley, which involves us introducing a user levy and reducing motor tax substantially to compensate for that. That is why a working group, including my Department and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, is examining it and will make recommendations by the summer with a view to doing something in the budget and the Finance Bill at the end of the year.

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