No to foreign toll roads

From recent press reports we learn that Irish motorists will soon face another hike in road tax, with an increase in road tolls.

The Government has not provided an economic rationale for the tolling of roads. The evidence to date shows that tolling does not deliver infrastructure any quicker or any more cheaply. Some estimates reveal that the public will pay 13 times more than necessary. It is well known that the most expensive means of road provision is private tolling.

There maybe some rationale for a Government toll where the user could at least be sure that the money collected would go into Irish coffers, to be spent on maintaining existing Irish roads and building new ones.