Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have a straightforward question for the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and her Government colleagues. When the Celtic Roads Group contract for the M1 motorway and the toll in and out of Drogheda town is up - it ends in 2034 - will the Government commit to dropping the toll entirely? The word from successive administrations has been ambiguous, quite frankly. I received replies from one of the Minister of State's predecessors, the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Mr. Ross, in 2018, in which he suggested to me that when the Celtic Roads Group contract was up and the infrastructure reverted to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and TII, it was open for consideration that the State would continue to operate the toll. That would be the ultimate kick in the teeth for the people in villages like Julianstown and my home town of Drogheda. We had two tolls imposed on us by the Fianna Fáil Party in the early 2000s. In my view, that was a political act. The Drogheda and east Meath areas were a testing bed for the introduction of tolls into towns in this country. We are living with the very serious health, social, economic and environmental consequences for the people of Drogheda and Julianstown. Significant amounts of the traffic go through Drogheda town every single day. The small village of Julianstown has a population of 700 to 800 people and, due to toll avoidance, has 22,000 traffic movements every day. HGVs, cars, vans and all kinds of vehicles go via Julianstown into Drogheda every day to avoid the toll that was imposed on the people of Drogheda, south Louth and east Meath by a Fianna Fáil-led Government in the early 2000s. I want the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to be clear with us, because there is a degree of ambiguity. What will happen to the toll going in and out of the town of Drogheda in 2034 when the road reverts to the Department? We need clarity on that.

I posed the question to the Minister, Deputy Ryan, last week and the response was interesting. Rather than answer the question, which is a policy matter for the Department of Transport, he referred it to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, based on his view that this was an operational matter. It is not an operational matter. This is a matter of Government policy.

I challenge the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, to drive through the town of Drogheda or the village of Julianstown. Back in 2018, it was recommended that Julianstown be placed on the capital programme for a bypass to protect the health and safety of its people. All we have now is a grant for less than €3 million for Meath County Council, through the Department of Transport, and from some of its own resources, to develop safety measures in the village. That will not reduce the traffic by one iota.

It may reduce the risk to the lives of the people of Julianstown but it will not save them because there are serious health implications given the congestion and the environmental damage being caused to the area. The Baymore area of south Drogheda is being crucified with heavy goods vehicles leaving the cement factory in Platin and the municipal waste incinerator in Carranstown, County Meath, avoiding the toll by coming via the Baymore rural roads, which simply cannot accommodate that level of traffic going through the village of Julianstown.

The points have been well made regarding the challenge the imposition of tolls presents for people's bottom line. We have to be conscious of the difficulties people are facing. The Government is, as was said earlier, merely kicking the can down the road, and this will come back to bite us in the middle of next year. My understanding is that the chief executive of TII made clear today that there will be additional increases to tolls in 2024, including in both directions on the M1 outside of Drogheda. We are facing a rolling series of toll increases, which will be a significant imposition on the people of the area I am proud to represent.

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