Truckers threaten more blockades over toll increases

Truckers have said there will be further blockades of the ports and motorways if the Government goes ahead with increases in allowable toll charges for lorries from January.

Up to 500 members of the Irish Road Haulage Association caused severe traffic delays last month when they blocked Dublin Port and the Port Tunnel for four hours.

The truckers said road tax for heavy goods vehicles in the Republic was as high as €4,000 per year, compared to just €823 (£640) in the UK.

From this week Irish lorries using the roads in Northern Ireland are required to pay a road toll of €13 (£10) per day, while UK-registered lorries are not. Truckers have also been told that they must pay toll increases on many of the State’s new motorways.

Toll rise

On certain roads, including the Dundalk western bypass, the M8 Rathcormac-Fermoy bypass, the M7 Portlaoise toll road, the N25 Waterford bypass, the N6 Galway to Ballinasloe road and the Limerick Southern Ring Road, the charge is set to rise by 10 cent for goods vehicles, while cars and motorcycles will see no increase. The highest toll will be €6.10 for a four-axle vehicle.

Under the new “maximum allowable tolls” produced by the National Roads Authority, M50 charges for goods vehicles will generally rise by 10 cent, with some exceptions.

Blockades

There will be no change to charges at the Dublin Port Tunnel, where lorries go free, or on the M3 tolls. On the N4 Kinnegad-Kilcock motorway the toll is set to rise by 10 cent to €7.10 for a four-axle lorry.

Eoin Gavin, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, said if the toll increases went ahead in January, truckers would “definitely” return to blockading tactics. He said the proposed toll increases were unfair in that they did not affect cars or most light goods vehicles. He said four-axle lorries already paid €10,000 each in toll charges per year.

Mr Gavin said truckers had pulled back from further protests because Minister for Finance Michael Noonan had promised to address the road tax issue in next year’s budget.

A spokesman for the National Roads Authority said the proposed changes were to the maximum allowable toll increases, and it was up to individual operators in many cases to decide the level within the allowable range.