Transport Minister considers toll as motorist boycott urged
Minister Leo Varadkar made his comments in a letter to the Cork Business Association after it outlined its members’ opposition to any proposed toll on the vital road link which carries up to 68,000 vehicles a day.
The minister said commuters in Dublin face multiple toll points close to each other on some of the major roads around the capital. His statement has fuelled fears that the tunnel will be tolled despite the location of a toll bridge a few miles north, near Watergrasshill.
Cork Chamber also confirmed it has written to the minister seeking an update on the issue.
It comes ahead of today’s No Tunnel Thursday initiative, proposed by listeners to the Victor Barry show on Cork’s Red FM, which is urging motorists to avoid the tunnel today in protest of the proposed tolls.
Chamber chief executive Conor Healy met Mr Varadkar in July to outline the results of a survey of Chamber members which showed that 46% of tunnel users would avoid it if a toll was introduced. It also found that the cost to the economy of these diversions would be four times that of any toll revenues.
“The minister agreed at that point to order an independent review of the impact a toll would have on the tunnel,” Mr Healy said.
“We have written to him this week reminding him of his commitment, and seeking an update on the progression of that independent review.”
The minister told the CBA that no decision has been made on future tolling strategies, or on the introduction of any additional road tolls.
“However, given the country’s overall financial position, the introduction of further tolls as a means of generating revenue to meet investment needs into the future cannot be ruled out,” he said.
CBA chief executive Donal Healy said the city’s business community is extremely concerned that new tolls are even being considered in the current economic climate.
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