Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 July 2006
434 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Transport if he will introduce shadow tolling on the M50 until open road tolling is introduced in view of the fact that the State received over €190 million in EU funding towards the cost of the construction of the M50. [27416/06]
View answerThe statutory power to levy tolls on national roads, to make toll bye-laws and to enter into toll agreements with private investors in respect of national roads, including the M50, is vested in the National Roads Authority (NRA) under Part V of the Roads Act 1993 (as amended by the Planning and Development Act 2000).
As the Deputy is aware, in January of this year, the NRA decided to replace the West-Link toll on the M50 by a single-point free flow toll in 2008. The installation of free flow tolling is a crucial element of the M50 upgrade which is underway at present.
In that context, the NRA will bring forward specific proposals for the single-point free flow toll arrangement for consideration later this year. At this stage, I would not wish to pre-empt the content of those proposals.
