Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy will be aware, the National Development Plan 2000–2006 first identified PPPs as a mechanism to facilitate the delivery of an extensive roads programme. There are now eight PPP toll roads in the State. These eight roads were constructed and are now operated and maintained under long-term contracts with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. Revenue generated by these roads is collected by the PPP company and is used to repay loans arising from the construction of the road and to fund ongoing operations and maintenance activities. These contracts will begin to expire in the coming decades. In addition, there are also two other tolled national roads, namely, the M50 and the Dublin Port tunnel. These two roads are different in that they essentially function as public tolls. Revenue from these tolls is collected directly for TII by operating companies under contract to it.

PPPs involve the sharing of project risks and funding for the various stages of the asset life cycle. Toll concession contracts entered into between TII and PPP companies on the eight concession schemes each contain revenue share mechanisms as part of the contractual payment mechanism. This allows for a portion of toll revenue to be shared with TII should traffic exceed a certain level. It is important to note that under the Roads Acts of 1993, 2007 and 2015, the setting of tolls is a statutory function of TII. As such, there is no formal consultative role for the Minister in relation to tolls.

Toll price increases are as a result of consumer price index, CPI, calculations carried out each year. The CPI increased by 8.6% between August 2021 and August 2022 and this resulted in increased tolls on all eight PPP schemes and on the M50. The by-laws for each individual toll scheme set out the basis for calculating the maximum toll for each year. Last year, the Government announced that the planned toll increases which were due to come into effect on 1 January would be paused for six months and that six-month period will end on 1 July. The six-month cost of deferring the toll price increases was estimated at €12.5 million.

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