Varadkar 'mulling multiple M50 tolls'

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar is reportedly considering introducing multiple tolls on Dublin's M50 motorway.

Minister Varadkar has said he is also considering new tolls for Cork's Jack Lynch tunnel in a bid to raise funds for transport projects, according to the Irish Times.

Planned rail projects, such as the Metro North, and the DART underground, are proving prohibitively expensive and Minister Varadkar has said that he believes the State could raise up to €50m from multi-tolling on the M50 alone.

The Minister said he is waiting for confirmation from the Department of Finance that any money raised through such measure could be ring-fenced for transport projects.

He has also warned that revenues from any such moves could not be expected until 2015.

"We have a very unfair situation on the M50 at the moment where you pay quite a high toll to cross just one bit," he said.

"I think it would be fairer if you had 60c tolls at different points… And I think reasonable people would accept it if they knew that the money was going into repairing the exisiting roads that we have."