M50 barrier-free tolling ‘borders on immoral’

PLANS to introduce barrier-free tolling on the M50 motorway are bordering on being immoral, the Automobile Association has claimed.

The AA said the proposal to introduce barrier-free tolling from August next year must be shelved because it was so complicated and so wasteful.

“It is absolutely scandalous. It is almost immoral,” said AA spokesman Conor Faughnan yesterday.

“They are going to be spending €25 million a year on operating this insanely complicated system that is designed to collect €80m a year.”

Just the cost of operating the system would pay for the western rail corridor and the Cork-to-Midleton rail line within a few years.

“The cost of operating this system would pay for 83 new city buses a year,” said Mr Faughnan. Just adding 2c to a litre of petrol and diesel would raise more money than the tolling system proposed, he added.

The National Roads Authority, which has received six formal objections to its plan, held a public meeting in Dublin yesterday.

The AA did not submit a formal objection as it has been involved in direct talks with Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey on the issue. It wants tolling on the M50 to be abandoned by the Government, so it can become a normal motorway.

However, the NRA has received formal objections to barrier-free tolling on the M50 from the Irish Road Haulage Association, the Irish International Freight Association, the Car Rental Council of Ireland, the National Consumer Agency and the National Heritage Group.

Fine Gael’s spokesman for enterprise, trade and employment Dr Leo Varadkar, who also lodged an objection, described the scheme as the latest “rip-off” by a state agency.

Chief executive of the National Consumer Agency Ann Fitzgerald said the system was designed to force consumers to get an electronic tag that carried considerable hidden charges.

Spokesman for the Irish Road Haulage Association Jimmy Quinn said it was considering not paying the tolls and clogging up the courts with thousands of fines because there was no alternative free route for them.

Cars pay €1.90 to cross the West-Link toll bridge on the M50 but this fee is set to rise to €2 in January. Under the draft plan, motorists with an electronic tag will continue to pay €2 when barrier-free tolling is introduced. Those who pre-register their vehicle and provide card details will pay €2.50. Those who do not pre-register will pay €3.

The NRA said barrier-free tolling was an integral part of the €1 billion upgrade of the M50, so the efficiency of the motorway could be maximised.

The hearing was chaired by former Central Bank governor Maurice O’Connell, who is expected to present his recommendations to the board of the NRA next month.