Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

With regard to the announcement that this road could be tolled, or that tolling is being considered - according to what the Minister is outlining here - we have seen other roads that had been tolled, like the M8, and we have seen increases in those tolls even though the money invested originally by the private sector has long been paid back. Multiples of it have been paid back and still they are increasing tolls for people who are using the roads. This is what will happen here.

On the N20, when you get outside of Mallow and go to Charleville and Buttevant, those sections of the road - especially around the mines there - are a death trap and there has been a number of accidents and lives have been lost there. Now we are talking about considering tolling it. We have a duty to the people who use that road to ensure it is a safe road and what we cannot have is people who cannot afford to use the toll using a road that is, as the previous Deputy said, an unsafe road.

See this speech in context