Transport levy - Loading the tolls’ dice

We have criticised planners for underestimating transport needs in the past, so it might seem unfair to point out that the State will pay €7m to two road toll operators because the Limerick tunnel and Meath’s M3 are not as busy — or lucrative — as was anticipated.

This does, though, seem another unfortunate case where profits are privatised and losses socialised, where the only involvement taxpayers have, other than paying to use the facility, is to pick up the slack when investors make a loss. This approach seems unduly loaded in favour of the toll companies. For the State it seems a case, in the financial context at least, of heads you lose, tails you lose too.

Maybe the lesson is that if developers want such a guarantee, the project may not be viable. And is there not an element of risk, even of losses, in all business?