The Irish Government should remove ‘outdated’ toll booths such as the M7/M8 plaza in Laois because they cause delays, accidents and increase pollution, according to EU Transport Committee MEP, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú.
With dust settling on the fuel protests, the Ireland South representative described as “archaic” booths that force trucks, buses, and cars to stop, queue and pay at the plazas in Laois and the rest of the country each day.
The Transport Committee MEP claimed Ireland is also behind our EU counterparts who are moving to free-flow toll systems such as operates on the M50. She cited the A13–A14 motorway corridor between Paris and Normandy as a recent French example of a primary motorway in France that has completely removed barriers, opting for tag and remote payment.
She said toll booths were outdated concepts that cause traffic delays, minor accidents, millions of euros in wasted diesel and millions of tonnes of carbon emissions because traffic has to queue, stop, start, and idle at toll booths.
After meeting the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), which is led by Rosenallis man Ger Hyland, the MEP said toll stops are costing €26 million in wasted diesel on roads each year for HGVs.
She claimed each truck start-up burns up to two litres of fuel – around 5.08kg of CO₂,
“With 24,264 HGVs passing our toll booths daily, this amounts to roughly 45,000 tonnes of emissions annually – from heavy goods vehicles alone,” said the Fianna Fáil MEP in a statement.
Ms Ní Mhurchú says she is open to proposing legislation at EU level, in the EU Transport Committee, that would require EU authorities to ensure “free-flow” tolling within a reasonable timeframe.
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She described the benefits of free moving traffic.
“Millions of cars, buses, and HGVs stop at our toll booths every year, causing minor accidents, inconvenience, traffic delays, wasted fuel costs and generating millions in carbon emissions. We must work with our toll operators to move towards barrier free tolling, as we have on the M50. Traffic should be allowed to move freely through our toll points without stopping – either paying with a tag or through a website,” she said.
Ms Ní Mhurchú described toll plazas as a safety hazard as drivers get distracted rummaging for coins or bank cards to tap, seeking receipts for expenses records and changing lanes at the last minute. She cited the warnings of a coroner in Cork about the dangers that toll plazas pose to motorists following a fatal accident at a Cork toll plaza in 2012.
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She said she has written to Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) raising the issue of free-flowing toll plazas and said she will work with her colleagues in Brussels to push for EU wide legislation if necessary.
Her statment described the measure as ‘low hanging fruit’ that state agencies could reform as part of a wider effort to reduce the cost base of our transport industry and reduce inefficiencies that are preventing us from reaching our climate targets.
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