Motorway toll barriers will not be lifted for fans driving to All-Ireland hurling final

Irish Rail said it is still working to deliver extra services from both Cork and Tipperary on July 20

 Brian Hayes of Cork celebrates scoring his side's fourth goal, in the 32nd minute, during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship semi-final match between Cork and Dublin at Croke Park in Dublin Picture: Sportsfile

Motorway toll barriers will not be lifted for fans driving to the All-Ireland hurling final on Sunday week but Irish Rail has pledged that anything that can move will be used to get fans to the match.

It comes amid calls from all public transport operators to up their game to meet the unprecedented demand for attendance at the first ever Cork and Tipperary All-Ireland hurling final.

Irish Rail said it is still working on the logistics to deliver extra services from both Cork and Tipperary on July 20, with an announcement expected later this week.

A spokesman said they want to identify all available rolling stock and finalise staffing arrangements before announcing all of the available extra services together.

“But you can take it that anything we can get moving, will be moving on the day,” a spokesperson said.

“I would also remind customers, however, that they can only board the train for which they have booked.” 

The reminder was issued after some fans who had booked later trains tried to board earlier departures from Heuston station after Saturday’s semi-final.

Toll booths

Meanwhile, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) said toll barriers will not be lifted on All-Ireland Sunday, despite complaints of long tailbacks at some of the motorway toll booths ahead of last Saturday's semi-final.

Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central, Colm Burke said he was stuck in traffic for 70 minutes at the toll booth which leads on to the motorway south of Fermoy on his way to the match on Saturday morning.

“They have two barriers here but just one barrier was opening, and it was rejecting coins as well,” he said.

“It was crazy that people were delayed that long. They knew there was going to be a lot of traffic and all the barriers should have been properly managed and it appears that they weren’t.

“If they couldn’t operate it properly, they should have just opened the barriers.” 

Constituency colleague, Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould, said he wrote to TII last week about toll delays and was told there wouldn’t be an issue.

“This wasn’t the case and there were huge traffic jams all day Saturday with people trying to attend the match. This is dangerous on motorways and it cannot be allowed to happen again,” he said.

“TII needs to consider lifting this barrier for the busiest times as people need to be able to get to Dublin safely. They make more than enough money from tolls every other day of the year, this is about safety.” 

But TII said the barriers won’t be lifted and fans should prepare accordingly.

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A spokesman said the State has contractual agreements in place with toll operators under existing public private partnerships.

“Therefore, any removal of tolls would have to be paid for by the state to the private operators,” a spokesman said.

“The existing toll system is a user pays system, if you don't use the motorway you don't pay. Any changes to that would mean people not using the motorway would be subsidising the motorway user.” 

He said TII has been engaged with toll operators and requested them to be fully prepared for the demands that will be placed on their tolling operations on All Ireland Sunday.

TII said it has asked the operators to ensure that all toll lanes are open and fully staffed at the peak travelling times, both before and after the game.