€40.5m paid by State to toll operators since 2010

More than €40.5m has been paid by the State over the past seven years to the operators of two toll roads due to lower-than-expected traffic volumes.

Figures provided by the Department of Transport show that since 2010, over €30m has been paid in compensation to the operator of the Limerick Tunnel and €12.2m to the operator of the M3 Clonee-Kells motorway.

The payments are made by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII), under a mechanism designed to compensate the two public-private partnerships if sufficient volumes of traffic don’t use the routes.