Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that: — there are 11 toll roads in operation across the State, 10 of which are on the national roads network with two of these being in full public ownership;

— eight roads across the State are tolled under Public Private Partnerships (PPP); and

— the Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and funding in relation to the National Roads Programme;

acknowledges that:

— tolls on seven PPP roads and the M50 were increased at the start of 2022;

— the announcement from Transport Infrastructure Ireland on 17th November, 2022, that tolls on eight PPP roads and the M50 will increase again from 1st January, 2023;

— the Government has the ability to allocate funding to offset these toll increases;

— the taxpayer has paid out millions of euros in traffic guarantee payments to private toll companies over the past three years, due to lower levels of traffic on our motorways as a result of the pandemic; and

— some private toll companies have recorded millions of euros in after-tax profits in the past year; recognises that: — motorists are already struggling with very high fuel costs, and these toll increases will impact negatively on workers, both in the public and private sector, commuting to and from work each day;

— the recent European Anti-Poverty Network report indicated that in this State, more than 17 per cent of people are living in enforced deprivation, and this represents an increase of over 100,000 people from 2021;

— tolls particularly impact those living in rural areas, who are forced to use a private car due to the failure of successive Governments to put in place sustainable transport options; and

— any increase in toll prices will add further to the cost-of-living crisis, the operating costs for businesses, including hauliers, and will result in higher prices for food and other goods and will put many businesses at risk;

further acknowledges that:

— the existing gold-plated PPP contracts that permit these toll increases, and generous traffic guarantee payments, are a legacy of bad economic policy choices and decisions made by successive Fianna Fáil-led administrations; and

— the Minister of State at the Department of Transport with special responsibility for International and Road Transport and Logistics, Hildegarde Naughton TD, and Minister for Transport, Eamonn Ryan TD, were notified of the proposed planned toll increases in advance of Budget 2023 and the Government has failed to respond since; condemns: — the failure of the Government, in particular the Minister for Transport, Eamonn Ryan TD, and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath TD, to respond and include the necessary financial provisions in Budget 2023, and to offset these planned increases and lessen the burden on workers, families, and businesses in the midst of the cost-of-living and fuel crisis; and

— Minister Eamon Ryan's disinterest in the plight of motorists, especially those involved in logistics and commercial activities; and mandates the Government to stop the proposed increase in toll charges planned for January 2023.

I note the Government's eleventh-hour intervention where it has decided to defer the road toll increases for six months. It is clear as day that the Government has been bounced into this decision as a direct result of political and, probably more importantly, public pressure. There has been a huge public response to this crazy proposal. The Department of Transport was notified of these toll increases three full months ago, on 1 September, yet it took until today to get any action from the Government, just hours before this Sinn Féin motion calling on the toll increases to be stopped. As early as this morning it was being reported that a decision would not be made until closer to the new year. It is a welcome action but it does not go far enough.

The Government's announcement does not solve the problem. It only serves to kick the can down the road and it fails to provide the certainty required by families. It does not address the underlying problems. There seems to be no recognition whatever that we are living in a crippling cost-of-living crisis. Workers, hauliers and businesses are really struggling with transport costs. It is now proposed that the tolls will increase instead next summer, at a time when petrol and diesel prices have gone back up due to the expiration of the excise relief and just before the Government hikes fuel prices yet again with its annual carbon tax increase. This proposed toll increase will add €8 million to the operating costs of hauliers in the second half of 2023. It will heap additional costs on workers and families who have no alternatives.

In recent days I have been contacted by hauliers who are put to the pin of their collars. They have real concerns that their businesses will go to the wall. I have been contacted by people who have to travel for dialysis six times a week on a disability payment. The increasing cost of petrol and diesel and the obligation to make the commute through the tolls is putting them under severe financial pressure. It is completely unacceptable that the Government would let this situation get to this point.

The Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan buried his head in the sand on this and simply hoped it would go away. He can show interest in toll roads an has in the past when it suited him. In opposition he called for electric vehicle, EV, owners to pay no tolls at all but when it comes to ordinary motorists, commercial operators or people driving a white van or a lorry who cannot afford an EV or do not have an EV option, he has no interest at all. This entire saga highlights how generous these gold-plated Fianna Fáil-era road toll contracts are and further, how poorly successive Governments since have invested in roads maintenance and upkeep. The public private partnership, PPP, contracts seem to be a win, win, win for the private contractor. The M3 operator made €11 million profit last year. That company gets paid millions if not enough cars use the road. Its tolls go up with inflation and the State is locked into these contracts for decades. It is a cash cow.

Earlier, I read a 2010 article inThe Irish Times, which highlighted that the Government did not know how much the company behind the M50 project had originally invested in the project before agreeing to a deal which would ensure that this private company received a €1.15 billion return on investment. You could not make it up. It is expected that the private company partnered in the Limerick tunnel project will receive payment of €200 million over the lifetime of the project due to lower than expected traffic volumes. These toll contracts are a relic of the Fianna Fáil cowboy era of poor planning and financial incompetence. Motorists are still paying the price for this. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is to tell the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications this evening that the M50 and Port tunnel raised €200 million annually for it and that it uses that money to maintain the national road network. It says that just €400 million is provided by the Department which is 2% of asset value. That is nowhere near what is needed. M50 motorists are paying for the upkeep of roads across this country because the Government has failed to put a proper sustainable plan in place. That is what it needs to do over the next six months.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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I will focus on public private partnerships on large public infrastructure projects. PPPs have frequently been used for large infrastructure and in social housing, healthcare and education. Today they represent a €11 billion liability for the State. The PPP model of delivery often promised that it would bring great benefits, including better value for money, accessing private finance, greater efficiency from private sector management and risk transfer whereby risk from delays and cost overruns transfer to the private investor. However, these supposed benefits often simply do not materialise. Not only that but the additional costs are often left with the public. This experience has mirrored the disappointing results elsewhere. As a result, PPPs have attracted a bad reputation. A 2018 study by the European Court of Auditors found that PPPs frequently produce considerable delays and major cost increases and had weak transparency. Research by economists Dr. Eoin Reeves and Dr. Donal Palcic, by housing expert Dr. Rory Hearne, by the former chief economist in the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Paul Sweeney and by the Comptroller and Auditor General have had similar findings.

We often see aggressive tax avoidance through the use of special purpose vehicles, SPVs, and holding company structures and creative accounting. I will give a concrete example, namely, the PPP for the M4 motorway. In 2014, the company that carried out the work changed how its turnover was reported. It went from measuring turnover on the basis of toll revenue and other payments to a profit margin on operating costs incurred for the year and a return on the financial asset of the company based on future cash flow projection. In one fell swoop, this reduced its reported turnover from €29.5 million to €21.2 million and more than halved its corporate tax bill. Nevertheless, PPPs remain a part of the national development plan and a key part of Housing for All. Those are the major concerns.

The Minister of State and I are in the same constituency and we often have to go through those tolls. I heard the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan say at the weekend that 10 cent is not a lot of money but when we see all the bills rising, 10 cent then is considerable.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the news that the toll increase across the PPP roads and the M50 will be deferred until July 2023.

However, this does not go far enough. Workers and families across the State are in a cost-of-living crisis and the Government's only solution is to kick the can down the road until July. The Minister for Transport was notified in early September, prior to the budget, of these price hikes and decided to do nothing about them. Now, following the Sinn Féin motion to scrap the toll increase and under public pressure, the Government has changed its position. The entire saga highlights the risk to the taxpayer of public-private partnerships and how the financial recklessness of the past Fianna Fáil Governments is coming back to trouble us again.

Due to the lack of alternative public transport options, commuters in Laois and Offaly often rely on private cars and regularly use the M1, M4, M7 and M50 toll roads on their journeys to and from work etc. The toll increases will place further financial pressure on workers and families, who already face very high petrol and diesel costs in a cost-of-living crisis. It will also hit the haulage sector very hard. Hauliers have raised this with me. The proposals will see toll charges on the M4, M7 and M1 increase to €2.10 and on the M50 to a whopping €3.50. Therefore, people in south Laois travelling on a return journey of roughly 85 miles to just north of Drogheda will have to pay six tolls, costing €15.40 per day. That is a heavy price to pay. I have experienced it. It is all right for me but people on low wages must experience it. It is a genuine problem for them.

These toll increases follow a similar price hike last January. In Sinn Féin's alternative budget – we do put forward alternatives – we outlined that savings of €25.6 million could have been achieved by reducing the electric car grant cut-off point from €60,000 to €50,000. In other words, only electric cars valued up to €50,000 would be subsidised. That would yield over €25 million. Savings of €18 million would accrue from taxing private jets. These options are still available to the Government. Our proposal mandates the Government not to go ahead with the price hikes at all, either in January or July.

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Government's eleventh-hour announcement is welcome but, let us be honest, it was forced to act. It had absolutely no intention of making the announcement in the absence of a public backlash and political pressure. This whole farce comes from the absolutely ridiculous contracts entered into by Fianna Fáil years ago. I have been raising this issue here since I was elected in 2016 because Drogheda is the only town in Ireland with tolled slip roads. These have had a detrimental effect on the town. You have to pay a toll to get from one side of the town to the other, or from a retail park on one side of the town to the other side. If you do not pay it, you spend 40 minutes in traffic because lorries, HGVs and vans all drive through the town to avoid tolls. I have long campaigned for the removal of the slip road toll, but successive Governments have done nothing about it to date.

It is clear from the responses I have received over the years that the protection of the profits of the private companies is the Government's main priority. It would not even consider lifting the toll on the slip-roads during the Fleadh Cheoil in Drogheda because it would have meant compensating the companies for their loss of profit, as per their contracts. Working people do not get to demand pay increases due to inflation but the Government has ensured the companies that operate the tolls can do just that.

Celtic Roads Group operates the M1 between Gormanston, County Meath, and Ballymascanlon, County Louth. In 2021, a year of Covid-related travel restrictions, the group reported a pre-tax profit of €8.14 million on the toll. Some 12 million vehicles passed through the plaza at Julianstown last year. Celtic Roads Group paid out dividends of €9.25 million to its shareholders last year. Its shareholders are the Semperian group, a Britain-based asset-management business; DIF Capital Partners, an infrastructure equity fund manager based in the Netherlands; Royal BAM Group, which is based in the Netherlands, and PGGM, which manages Dutch occupational pension funds. Celtic Roads and its shareholders are clearly not suffering financial hardship, which is more than can be said for many of those who pass through the toll plaza every year. All we are asking for is that the Government stop the latest gouging of ordinary working people and not just kick the can. It should give certainty to people.

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I thank my colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, for tabling this motion to stop the hike in toll charges on our motorways. Sometimes I believe the Government is living under a rock when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis. The crisis is real. It is real for the people of my constituency, who are making a stark choice between eating and heating. The cost-of-living crisis is real for the many who will be struggling this Christmas. While I am glad that the Government crawled out from underneath its rock, caved in to the political and public pressure and announced the deferral of toll charges for six months, this does not go far enough.

The excuse that the increases are in line with inflation simply does not wash. Ordinary workers and families have not seen their wages rise with inflation. On the M50 alone, tolls of €140 million were collected in 2021.

People who drive to work or drive for a living are already affected by increases in the prices of petrol and diesel. To impose further increases on them was just unfair. I want to know who is in the driving seat. Is it the Department of Transport, the Minister, the National Transport Authority, NTA, or TII? Is the Minister simply asleep at the wheel?

Workers in Liffey Valley have been adversely impacted by recommendations of the NTA and TII on the introduction of car parking charges for workers. I have supported the workers, who have been on strike 16 October. Information I received from South Dublin County Council stated paid parking was a condition-of-planning requirement for the redevelopment of the car park in Liffey Valley. This condition was strongly recommended by both the NTA and TII during the planning process. In the same correspondence, South Dublin County Council states sustainable travel policies are aligned with those of the NTA and TII and that it therefore supports the "reasonable" travel costs, which entail the introduction of paid parking at Liffey Valley. While the imposition of car parking charges on workers by a vulture fund is reprehensible, Government policies have allowed it to happen. We need a change of policy; we need a change of Government.

Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the fact that the Government was forced into a U-turn on the proposed introduction of the charges. The charges have been deferred for six months but should be scrapped completely as there is no justification for them. The cost-of-living crisis is still with us and will be with us in June 2023. People from all walks of life are feeling the pinch. If it is not a case of extortionately high rents and food costs, it is a case of high electricity and gas costs, an increase in petrol prices and a battle against inflation. In the midst of the hardship people are experiencing, the Government wants to increase the cost of road tolls.

It has been suggested that the price hike is to ensure road maintenance but it is evident that it is more about allowing the operators' profits to keep pace with inflation. The Tánaiste suggested these are the first price increases in nine years. They are not. In Limerick, the Limerick tunnel has been tolled. The price increased in the past 12 months, from €1.90 to €2. Even if people decided en massenot to use the tunnel, the operator would still get paid through the traffic guarantee clauses. These ensure the taxpayers pay if an agreed-upon number of vehicles do not use the road. For Limerick Tunnel, the baseline is 17,000 vehicles per day. In 2021, taxpayers paid €8.4 million to the operator because of the clauses. From June 2019 to June 2020, the taxpayers paid €7 million. As my colleague Deputy O'Rourke said, over the lifetime of the tunnel, we will pay €200 million approximately in taxpayers' money to the operator. Each way, the taxpayer and consumer will lose. When Limerick tunnel was built, the State was awash with money, so the Fianna Fáil Government committed to giving it away through cowboy deals with road tunnel operators.

Tolling the Limerick tunnel or the M3 never made sense. Taxpayers are left to foot the bill when these roads are underused. The Government actually wants people in Limerick and Clare to pay even more to use a route that already has underlying problems. When the Limerick tunnel was first proposed, I pointed out that it had fundamental flaws, as experts said. The main flaw was that it was far too close to the city to be tolled in such a way as to have the desired effect on city traffic.

In Limerick city, one of the main traffic congestion points is Shannon Bridge on Dock Road. More than 15,000 cars use that route daily. The alternative is to use the Limerick tunnel. For years now, people have avoided this option as they do not want to pay the toll on their daily commute. This was predicted. The Limerick tunnel was built too close to the city centre and its charge is too high for it to reach its maximum potential and remove traffic from the streets of Limerick.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The message is loud and clear: pressure works. The Government responds to pressure.

As usual, lastminute.comis the order of the day with the Government. It has responded and, as expected and predicted, its response is wholly inadequate. Nonetheless, the travelling public know it felt their anger.

I commend my colleague, an Teachta O'Rourke, on all of his work on this. I also commend the travelling public on making sure their voice has been heard on this matter. We need to be very clear. Those people who have no alternative but to use roads and pay tolls will not be placated by the Government kicking the can down the road. Next summer there will still be a cost-of-living crisis for commuters. Those people who are scratching out a living and driving all day will still experience a cost-of-doing-business crisis.

There is no crisis for the toll companies. As an Teachta O'Rourke highlighted eloquently, they seem to be doing very well for themselves. It seems perhaps that is all that matters to the Government. Why would they not do well? They are benefiting from a good, old-fashioned Fianna Fáil deal. We know those deals are rarely good for ordinary people or small businesses.

Kicking the can down the road serves to fool absolutely nobody. People see that the Government will respond to pressure and next July, when it tries this again, there will be the same amount of pressure. I am not sure the Government understands the situation when members of the Government say that a 10 cent increase is not a lot of money. However, when people have no choice but to use toll roads a couple of times a day or week, that is significant and it all adds up. The dismissive attitude to people who are struggling is quite the signature attitude of the Government.

It will feel people's anger because the people who are struggling today will still be struggling next July. We see who's side the Government is on. The Government has said these companies have to have cost of living increases that match inflation. The 80 cent increase in the minimum wage does not match inflation. The Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures show that wages are not rising at the rate of inflation, yet the Government wants to protect very well off companies.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies for the opportunity to speak to the House about the increase in toll prices on a number of national roads. I can confirm that the Government is not opposing the motion. However, while the overall objective of the motion is in line with the Government's concern around the increase in the cost of living and its effect on workers, families and businesses, there were some assertions made in the motion which require clarification and will be highlighted in the ministerial speeches this evening.

There are 11 toll roads in the State, of which ten are on the national road network. The East Link-Ringsend bridge toll in Dublin is on the local road network. Of the ten tolls on the national road network, two are essentially public tolls, namely the M50 and the Dublin tunnel. Revenue from these tolls is collected directly for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, by operating companies under contract to Tll. These revenues are invested by Tll in the operation and maintenance of the road network. It is important to point out that toll income is not allocated to the construction of new roads, but rather to the protection and renewal of the existing network.

It should also be noted that there are extra inflationary costs in the construction industry, particularly in regard to products such as bitumen which is used in road pavement repair, meaning the cost of the protection and renewal of the existing network has increased significantly.

The other eight roads are public private partnership, PPP, roads which were constructed and are now operated and maintained under long-term contracts with Tll. Revenue generated by these roads is collected by the PPP company and used to repay loans arising from the construction of the road and to fund ongoing operations and maintenance activities.

The public, private and contract law considerations with respect to increasing toll charges for public toll roads and PPP toll roads are somewhat different. In addition, there are different financial and budgetary implications relating to toll revenue generated, with TII more reliant on the public toll revenues.

In terms of the framework for setting tolls, toll by-laws for each individual road set out the basis for calculating maximum tolls each year. Maximum tolls are calculated for each vehicle category. Tll calculates the maximum tolls for the Dublin tunnel and the M50 and decides the actual tolls that should apply. The PPP companies calculate the maximum tolls for the eight PPP concession schemes and propose the actual tolls that should apply. The mechanism for these calculations is set out in the individual toll by-law and is based on the consumer price index, CPI. Actual tolls charged may not exceed the calculated maximum toll for each scheme.

In December 2021, Tll announced an increase in toll charges for eight toll roads for 2022. It should be noted this was the first increase in tolls for motor cars since 2013. This increase was driven by inflation.

For 2023, the board of Tll has approved a number of toll changes. In the case of public tolls, there is no change to existing toll rates for the Dublin tunnel, while the toll rates for the M50 have increased across the board. Increases have also been agreed for all eight PPP schemes. These increases include a 30 cent increase for cars without tags or video accounts on the M50, bringing the toll paid to €3.50. On the M4, there will be an increase of 20 cent for cars which brings the toll to €3.20. Tolls on the other PPP schemes will increase by 10 cent. This has been driven by inflation of 8.6%, based on the CPI, and is within the relevant by-laws for each scheme.

It is estimated that these changes will generate approximately €25 million in additional toll revenue, dependent on traffic volume, which will be used for loan repayments in the case of the PPP schemes and maintenance and operations in the schemes in question, and to ensure that toll income continues to support adequately the protection and renewal of the existing road network. Any measures introduced in regard to these toll increases will need to account for the contractual arrangements with the PPP companies, along with the impact on the protection and renewal of the existing road network.

PPPs have been instrumental in the expansion of Ireland's motorway network through recent decades, particularly on inter-urban routes. This has delivered safer roads with reduced journey times to the benefit of private motorists, businesses and the haulage sector. Furthermore, the contractual arrangements for these roads ensure they will be maintained in a safe and robust condition before reverting to the State on the ending of the contract. These arrangements have allowed for risk-sharing, efficient project management and delivery and the completion of critical public infrastructure without incurring upfront Exchequer costs.

The motion put forward refers to payments to PPP operators. I would like to expand on this. These variable operation payments, VOPs, cover two PPP toll concession contracts, namely the M3 Clonee to Kells and N18 Limerick tunnel. They provide that where traffic volumes do not reach a threshold specified in the respective contract, moneys are paid from the State to the toll operator. This has incentivised private sector infrastructure development on roads where traffic volumes are less certain.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions there was a significant drop off in traffic levels across the national road network in 2020-21, including the two VOP contract roads I mentioned. As a result, VOP payments in 2020 and 2021 increased on 2019. In addition to the reduction in traffic due to Covid-19, the other factors that impacted the calculation of VOPs in 2020 and 2021 included the level of traffic guarantee applicable to each year, the level of toll charges applicable to each year and the level of non-availability payments, which are deductions for lane closures, applicable to each year.

Covid-19 and the reduced traffic since 2019, combined with the reduced VAT on toll charges in 2020 and 2021, contributed significantly to the increase in 2020 and 2021 payments. It should also be pointed out that as part of a revenue sharing mechanism contained in PPP contracts that if traffic volumes exceed a certain threshold specified in the contract for each scheme, the excess toll revenue returns from the toll operator to the State. In recent years, such revenue has been generated on the M4 and M1.

The Department has introduced a number of public transport measures to help to ease the cost of transport, mainly aimed at reducing fares for users.

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Furthermore, the Department has rolled out an emergency support scheme for hauliers. There have also been other Government measures, such as the reduction on excise duty for petrol and diesel. This is in addition to the various measures outlined in budget 2023 to help people with the challenges relating to the cost of living.

The broad intent of this motion is generally in line with the principles of the Government in helping people as the cost of living increases. I can confirm that the Department of Transport has been directed to develop options that might allow for the suspension of planned toll increases until the end of June 2023. As I have outlined, however, the toll contracts are complicated and further discussions with all relevant parties, including TII, are needed.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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It has been stated by some of my colleagues already that the problem is that we are starting from a bad place in that these PPPs have not delivered for the people, although they have delivered for the companies. Like everyone else here, I welcome the fact that we have a mitigation and that we have delayed the toll increases until June 2023. We were dealing with a huge amount of people who were making contact with us. As Deputy O'Rourke said, you are dealing with people who are paying multiple tolls each day as they travel for necessary dialysis and many other medical procedures. We are aware that haulage companies are under severe pressure. Medium-sized hauliers that are looking at dealing with three or four tolls, are talking about toll costs of between €100,000 and €130,000. These would be going up by €20,000 to €30,000, which is significant money. The idea of tolls was to free up traffic and to pay for maintenance. When we were first told about tolls, such as those relating to the East Link Bridge and the West-Link Bridge - before them we had the arrival of the M50 - the idea was that these would be short-term fixes for the projects to pay for themselves. That has changed and as has been said, the difficulty is that these PPPs did not deliver for people.

We can all talk about individual tolls, and I will talk about the M1. Deputy Munster spoke about the difficulty with the slip road in Drogheda, the huge cost that has and the impact it has on Drogheda. At this stage, because of the cost of tolls, we are dealing with a huge number of hauliers and others who are going through the towns that were meant to be bypassed. Again, we have not put together a sustainable means of delivering road maintenance. We all know that the people who are putting money into the M50 are paying for a considerable amount of road maintenance outside of the M50. I will return to the M1 and I will repeat the figure of €8.1 million, which are last year's pre-tax profits for the Celtic Roads Group for the M1. That is phenomenal money and we need a better and more sustainable solution. I could go on but my time is up.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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People are sick to the teeth of this Government hiking prices left, right and centre. Ordinary people are sick of being at the bottom of the pile time and again. Once again this Government is trying to sneak through measures that will put even more pressure on the pockets of ordinary people. We are talking about a counterbalance to Dublin in Cork but the reality is that without public transport we need connectivity. People coming from outside of Cork have no way to access Dublin and no main roads unless they are going through tolls. The only other way to travel from Cork city is to get the train. The fares for doing so are expensive. I will give the Minister of State an idea of those fares. This weekend, if two people want to travel to Dublin from Cork, it will cost over €100. That is to sit in the train with no refreshments because they have been suspended since the time of Covid. A lot of people do not have the money to pay for the train. People are struggling to put petrol and diesel in their cars and now this Government is putting tolls up on top of it.

We hear a lot of talk about the need for the carrot-and-stick approach. If you are a developer, a land hoarder or someone sitting on derelict sites there are loads of carrots but little stick. There is a reward all the time for the friends of the Government but for ordinary people looking to travel around the State there are only sticks. The Government is punishing ordinary people again, when their bills have gone up and when people cannot afford to put diesel or petrol in their cars. At what stage will the Government say that enough is enough for ordinary people. These are people who are in the eye of a cost-of-living storm and this is what the Government is doing. The increase will only add to inflation. People will have to pay more to travel and haulage companies and businesses are all affected. However, once again, the private companies and their profits continue to rise.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Toll roads and the toll bridges over the River Liffey operate as virtual monopolies. As councils impose restrictions on access to alternative routes or to roads adjacent to toll roads, it is more likely that the individual driver will be diverted, by design, to the toll road. The price increases do not appear substantial but they soon mount up as drivers make multiple trips over the course of a week, month or year. Price increases are happening across the board with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Drivers are struggling to pay for fuel and these increases will hit already hard-hit motorists. For M50 tolls, the cost is due to increase by between 20 cent and 30 cent, depending on what method of payment you use. Those who have a tag on their cars will see the toll costs rise from €2.10 to €2.30. The cost of a toll on unregistered cars will increase by 30 cent, from €3.20 to €3.50, and the tolls for goods vehicles using the M50 will see a price rise of 20 cent or 60 cent per journey, depending on the size of the vehicle and the method of payment.

I would also like the Minister of State to look at the penalties that are imposed on drivers who, for whatever reason, miss a payment on a toll. These penalties rapidly escalate to exorbitant amounts being owed to the toll companies. The eight toll roads operated by PPP companies will see toll costs increase to the maximum level. For example, the cost of a toll for a car using the M4 motorway will increase from €3 to €3.20. The other seven toll roads will see a price increase of 10 cent more. People need their cars to get to work and in Dublin people definitely need them to get to industrial estates in the north and south of the city. Public transport will simply not work if you are travelling from the north side to an industrial complex on the south side and anyone who lives in Dublin knows this. People are dependent on their cars to get to work, therefore, and their pay packets decrease with every price increase. This toll increase in unnecessary and impractical; it is detrimental to the economic good of the city.

Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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With breaking news this afternoon on their deferral, it seems the bells have tolled on the toll increases, at least for now. On behalf of my constituents in Leixlip, Celbridge, Maynooth, Kilcock, Donadea, Broadford and out along the M4, I would like to thank an Teachta O'Rourke for the political pressure this motion has brought to bear. It is no harm to remind the public what this was all about. Just last week the Government was pretending that the toll increases were a surprise to them but we found out subsequently that it had known since September. The Tánaiste told the Dáil last week that there had not been an increase in tolls in nine years, when they had already gone up in January. As a result, there can be no room for surprised faces in respect of this matter. These new hikes were not being levied to make the roads better; they were being levied to make better and bigger profits for private companies because road transport, like all the other essential and supposedly public aspects of life like the buses, healthcare, childcare and elder care, has been engineered to become a vehicle for private profit. It is perverse, when we are trying to cut down road transport for the sake of climate, that some toll roads have guaranteed traffic clauses. This means that means citizens' money has to be used to step in and pick up the tab when traffic is not deemed to be enough for these private company profits.

An Teachta O'Rourke mentioned the €8.4 million of taxpayer's hard-earned money that went to the Limerick tunnel operator in 2021 and the M3 operator that got €3 million for there not being enough traffic in 2020 when the pandemic was at its height.

While the wages will not go up in line with inflation, the profits of the private toll operators do. Why? Because, as an Teachta Farrell has already outlined, the PPP contracts allow them to do that. We have huge concerns about them. It is nice work if you can get it, when the Government is so generous with private companies on the public's behalf.

We want the hikes to take a hike, because it is the commuter who cannot depend on the bus to get to work who is paying. It is the parent who was promised a free place for their child to get to school but found out there was no place at all. It is the worker paying through the nose already for petrol and diesel and car insurance who will take the hit. Right now, toll increases are deferred, which is good, because people are punch-drunk from paying out big money for the very basics, not just getting on.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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I wish to share time with my colleague, Deputy Ged Nash.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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I welcome the announcement of a six-month delay, but we understand the money is still going to have to be paid. The sum of €12.5 million will have to come from somewhere else to be paid to these eight PPP companies in order for the State to meet its contractual obligations. What has emerged from this is a worrying proposition, in terms of how we as a State, as the owner of the road networks, is running them and raising revenue. People accept tolls as a fact of life, but with these projected toll increases the level of anger was quite astonishing, because people are so put to the pin of their collar. I spoke about this during my Topical Issue debate last Thursday week. There was a huge reaction to this announcement. There is a straw that broke the camel's back element to it. The vast majority of people who use tolls drive on motorways because they are travelling long distances and they cannot get public transport. It is the network that was designed for long-distance travel in a relatively quick and efficient way by car, truck or other vehicle. I gave the example of workers from Swords who have to go to Ballymount and the proposed increases would have been more than €100 a month travelling on the M50 every day.

The tolls are frozen, but they will go up. Peter Walsh from Transport Infrastructure Ireland is currently before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. His opening statement lays bare the situation. The vast majority of committee members probably were not aware of the situation regarding the contract and just how long the contracts with PPP companies are. Six of them are for 30 years, one is for 35 years, and the other is for 45 years. I will knit that with what Mr. Walsh says about the impact of freezing toll charges.

In the event that a freezing of toll charges is agreed, [which it now has been for six months] the contractual entitlement to the index linking of toll charges would still exist. If inflation continues to rise, this will result in rebalancing of, and consequentially, larger increases to, toll charges in January 2024.

That is incredibly worrying and concerning. The mistaken belief is that this cost-of-living crisis is seasonal and that we will reach March or April 2023, things will all be brighter, and the cost of living and inflation will go down. We all understand that is a fallacy. Where are we going with these toll contracts in this country? Are they just going to rise exponentially in line with the consumer price index, CPI? What is the long-term future for people who must travel, work and haul by the motorway system? Are we getting value for money from the contracts with these companies? I would argue we are not. The M50 has raised €1.2 billion in the past ten years, and it was €124 million in 2021, when we had restricted economic activity due to the Covid pandemic. Tolls are significant revenue raisers. We know money gets pumped back into the system. Some €200 million annually from the two public tolls goes back in and then there is revenue share from the PPP toll concessions. We do not know how much the revenue share is. I do not have those figures to hand, but it is something I will endeavour to find out. Is this the right model for Ireland in this decade, the next decade and future decades?

I was very disturbed to hear the comments on this from the Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan. The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, responded on the day in the media and she read out a script in reply to the Topical Issue matter. That day also, the Tánaiste, Deputy Varadkar, referred to it on Leaders' Questions. The Minister of State and the Tánaiste were surprised by this, as if the increase had come as a bolt from the blue and that it was purely due to inflation, whereas the Minister, Deputy Ryan, said we need revenue to target congestion and to meet our climate targets. That is not why these increases were put forward. These are not a congestion charge or a climate charge. If we want to change the goalposts on this revenue and to ring-fence it for those measures, then the Minister must say so, but that is not the reason. It was disingenuous of the senior Minister to say that in this regard. He was the only person in political life who seemed to welcome the increase, as if it was great and that commuters would absorb it. They are unable to absorb much more. The Government has acknowledged that in terms of the freeze, but as Mr. Walsh's contribution to the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications a short time ago illustrates, we are storing up increases into 2024 and beyond. There will have to be a serious conversation, perhaps through the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications and within the Government, on whether we are getting value for money and if this is the right model or if we will face perpetual increases year on year and decade on decade?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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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.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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It is difficult to see any justification for the increase in tolls, whether they come into effect in six months or in January as originally planned. With private motorists and haulage companies struggling with increasing fuel costs, any rise in toll prices will come as a further blow amid the cost-of-living crisis. The level of the increase is difficult to justify in the current climate and I do not foresee that changing in the next six months.

We all appreciate the need to reduce the use of cars in daily travel, but many people use these motorways daily because the current level of public transport is not sufficient. In the case of the State-owned M50, one of the country's most notorious bottlenecks, it is intended to heap even further misery on road users, with an increase in the toll of more than 9%. For people living in, for example, Blanchardstown who have to travel to Lucan, that will amount to €500 a year before these increases kick in. That is assuming they go back and forth every day. The tolls are not applied equally on roads throughout the country. They apply most commonly where there is a daily commuter element.

The M50 has never been busier and is about as busy it can get while still functioning. In its most recent annual report, TII predicts that any drop in traffic volumes on the M50 will be in reaction to the rising level of congestion. The road is often like a car park and is already expensive to use. We in the Committee of Public Accounts examined this issue earlier in the year and found that, internationally, the M50 was the only free-flow toll road that escalated instances of non-payment to a fine on day two. It is easy for people to forget to pay the toll online, especially for those who are not familiar with the road.

All the PPP motorways were set up to bring in the maximum tolls allowed under their agreements with the State, excluding the port tunnel. It was stated in the House last week that this was to be the first increase in nine years, but there was an increase earlier this year, as the Minister of State acknowledged. I thought I was hearing things last week when the Tánaiste said otherwise, and I thought perhaps he does not realise because he probably does not tend to stop at toll bridges and that, therefore, increases do not have the same impact on him. The maximum toll allowable in PPP contracts is linked to inflation. Operators have the option of charging less than the maximum, yet all of them charge as much as they can. I do not believe there is any record of an operator dropping a toll price when the rate of inflation has decreased. The rises, linked to an inflation rate of 8.6% between August 2021 and August 2022, are in most cases higher than the 9% increase. They are rounding up the cost, which is shaking down people for as much as possible.

While it is welcome the increases will be delayed for six months, it is expected to cost the State at least €12.5 million to cover the lost revenue for TII and the toll operators. As was noted earlier, representatives of TII are appearing before the transport committee as we speak. If the freezing of toll charges were agreed, the contractual entitlement to the index linking of toll charges would still exist. If inflation continues to rise, this will result in the rebalancing of, and consequentially larger increases to, toll charges in January 2024. We are not resolving the problem but just pushing it down the road.

Why did the announcement from TII come as a surprise last week? When did TII flag this? Surely as a State body, it has to keep the Department of Transport apprised. It has been reported TII and that Department have been discussing the matter since the beginning of September, so why did it seem to come as a surprise to both the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste? There is a reason the PPP schemes were so attractive to private contractors, namely, the fact that, by and large, they are very lucrative. Profits in 2021 for the Eurolink Motorway Operations, which operates the M3, the M4 and the M6 were €10.8 million; for Celtic Roads Group in Dundalk, €8.14 million; for Directroute Holdings, operating the M17 and the M18, €15.3 million; for Directroute Limited, operating the M8, €6.2 million; and for M50 Concession Limited, €2.4 million.

Included in these profit margins is the overpayment of tolls, an issue I have raised repeatedly. Every toll operator receives an overpayment, which is retained as income. The average yearly income from overpayment ranges from about €18,000 for the N6 to €78,000 for the M7 and the M8. Where people overpay a toll, this is included in the revenue as though it is the legitimate revenue of the toll operator, but I do not believe it is legitimate. The toll operators say they use it on road maintenance, which is the excuse for everything. Dublin Bus, for example, has a community initiative to which its overpayments go, yet according to a reply I received during a discussion at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, this was never considered by any of the toll operators as an option. They are taking money over and above the stated sum whereby if the toll is, say, €1.90 and someone pays €2, they retain that 10 cent and that can be very lucrative.

All this raises a question as to why road users are facing an increase in tolls and why we are subsidising the loss of excess profits for these operators. The answer can be found in PPP contracts, where the ghost of Fianna Fáil past is coming back to haunt us. The PPP scheme is a perfect example of the Fianna Fáil legacy of selling or leasing public assets to private companies with favourable conditions and cushy contracts. When the party was extolling the virtues of the PPP scheme, a key benefit was supposed to be the transfer of risk to the private contractor, which would limit costs and losses for the State. The PPP schemes were, supposedly, structured such that private toll operators would be responsible for demand risks, including traffic volumes and, therefore, toll revenue. The traffic risk was supposed to be transferred to the PPP company, yet we retain an obligation at least on some roads and tunnels to compensate for the shortfall in traffic volumes that has been forecast. I do not know how one aligns with the other.

TII must explain the rationale behind these toll increases. It is difficult to accept its contention that the toll rises are necessary for the maintenance of motorways and the wider public network. What is motor tax for, people will ask, if they pay a toll charge of which some goes towards the maintenance of roads while others do not pay that toll charge? There seems to be a terrible inequality in that. Moreover, we see toll avoidance all over the place, although it is not unique to Ireland and can be seen in other jurisdictions as well. Ordinary people will end up paying twice for these increases, in higher tolls through any cost passed on to consumers due to additional operational expenses incurred in logistics and distribution companies.

The Committee of Public Accounts asked TII earlier this year whether there were any concerns about transport projects becoming unviable due to inflationary concerns. We were told that was a very low risk because these projects were appraised for periods of 30 to 60 years, and while the rate of inflation was high, it was not expected fundamentally to disturb projects in the longer term. The contracts with the toll operators run to between 30 and 45 years.

Does the same logic not apply here where it evens out over a longer period? When a new road is built, there is normally not much maintenance on the road surface for approximately 20 years. A big overlay of approximately four inches then goes on, which means another ten years before maintenance is required. Very often, these toll roads can sweat the asset so that they do not have to do the maintenance at a time when inflation is high. Therefore, this idea that people are all rushing out now to resurface roads when inflation is high is nonsensical. I have not seen any evidence of it. Deferring the toll increases to a later date when the increases will become even higher than was forecast is not good enough. The Government needs to show a bit of backbone and fight the operators on this decision.

It should be noted that the toll bridges, which are entirely publicly owned and operated, will not be raising their prices. Dublin City Council has no plans in the next year to raise tolls on the Tom Clarke Bridge. Dublin City Council made an income of €7.18 million this year from bridge tolls. It is a lot of money but less than some private operators, which intend to raise tolls. Really, the difference is that it is a public entity as opposed to a private company.