Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 349: To ask the Minister for Transport his policy on new road tolls; if he will curtail the imposition of new tolls in view of the high costs of motoring here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9256/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The national development plan envisages that a proportion of the national roads programme will be implemented by means of public private partnerships, PPPs, which will involve private sector funding, remunerated in part by user tolls. Through PPPs, private sector innovation will be harnessed in the areas of scheme design, construction and long-term operation and maintenance and will ensure earlier delivery of vital national road infrastructure. User tolls are now in widespread use throughout the developed and developing world and are particularly favoured where rapid expansion in major road networks is required.

The National Roads Authority's current PPP programme comprises ten projects. It is clear that there is limited capacity over and above the projects already identified to support viable tolling arrangements. Nevertheless, the increased cost of the national roads programme, combined with the demands of the other sectors which limit the capacity to allocate more Exchequer funding, requires that all possibilities for generating additional funding to accelerate the implementation of the national roads programme be considered.

The road projects identified by the NRA for PPP based on toll financing will deliver time savings, journey time certainty and an overall higher level of service to users. I am confident that the modest level of tolls to be charged, combined with the high quality of the new roads and the greatly improved transport service they will provide, will ensure that the routes are attractive to the vast bulk of inter urban traffic.