Motorists are paying up to €90 million a year in tolls to use the West-Link on Dublin's M50 motorway, writes Barry O'Halloran.

Fred Barry, chief executive of the National Roads Authority (NRA), told the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) yesterday that money collected from motorists at the West-Link was covering the cost of the €50 million yearly repayments to previous toll operator, NTR.

Mr Barry estimated that motorists using the West-Link section of the motorway were paying between €85 million and €90 million a year in tolls.

The authority is paying €50 million a year to NTR, which operated the West-Link toll up to last year. NTR sold its rights to that income for €488 million.

The Government originally gave NTR the right to toll the West-Link in 1987. The contract ended in 2020, but had no termination clause, although it did have a mechanism to compensate the company if the State abolished the toll.