Lobby group calls on government to buy back M50

The Irish Raod Haulage Association (IRHA) has thrown its lot in with a number of disparate business groups to highlight “inefficient tolls” on the M50 in Dublin. Here John Loughran opens up the great toll debate.

IRHA communications director, Jimmy Quinn

The M50 motorway in Dublin impacts on the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every week. What was once heralded as a panacea for all of the capital’s traffic ills has now become one of the greatest causes of traffic congestion in the greater Dublin area.

Toll operator NTR, the owners of the West Link Bridge sit astride this piece of infrastructure, charging beleaguered motorists for the privilege of queuing to pass through the tollgates.

But those beleaguered motorists are coming to the end of their tether. The fact that NTR will have extracted £1 billion from the motorist, by the time the West Link Bridge is handed back to the State only compounds their misery.

The groundswell of opinion amongst motorists including thousands of HGV operators is that the Government must now bite the bullet and buy back this bridge, which cost a paltry £20 to construct in the early 1980s.

The single issue lobby group has called on the Government to buy back the M50

The M50 West Link toll bridge and the plight of hundreds of thousands of motorists is now “happening” news. Motorists facing another five years of congestion along the route, while an upgrade to three lanes in both directions is carried out are calling for radical action.

The Finance Editor on the Sunday Independent, Senator Shane Ross, is championing the cause on behalf of motorists and is now calling on the Government to invoke an opt out clause in the original contract, which would allow the State to buy back the bridge.

The IRHA is also taking a firm stance on the issue and at the end of January the association played a key role in the establishment of “Business Against Inefficient Charges on the M50”, a single-issue lobby group with the ultimate aim “of removing all ineffective charges from the M50.”

The alliance includes the Society of the Irish Motor Industry; the Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association; the Coach Tourism & Transport Council; the Transport Umbrella Group; the National Taxi Drivers’ Union; the Irish International Freight Association and the Private Association of Motor Bus Owners.

To get these diverse groupings around the table to discuss the issue of tolls was an achievement in itself. That the IRHA was able to thrash out a common platform on which they could agree speaks volumes for the association.

“From meeting and speaking with all the different groups it became clear, that they all had a different view on tolls. The only thing they would all have in common is the inefficiency of the M50. For some that means there should be no tolls, for others its means removing the toll gates and placing them on some of the main roads into Dublin,” IRHA deputy vice president Sean Murtagh revealed.

The IRHA is officially against tolling on the principle that its members are already paying for the provision of road infrastructure through motor taxation. However, pragmatists within the IRHA realise that tolls are here to stay and the best the association can hope to achieve is discounts for its members.

Members of the new grouping expressed fears that the umbrella organisation could be used as a “Trojan Horse” to promote individual tolling agendas, at the expense of a common agreed policy.

However, after much deliberation the group agreed to put their individual positions aside and came up with a unified position. The general consensus pointed to the fact that the M50 motorway was the only orbital route in Europe that had a toll.

The group agreed that the M50 has lost its effectiveness. “In the early 1980s (prior to the construction of the M50) it took an hour and 15 minutes to get from Dublin Airport to the Naas Road. It now takes an hour and 15 minutes, plus you have to pay the toll,” Murtagh added.
The alliance “Business Against Inefficient Charges on the M50” has now called on the Government to buy back the West Link toll bridge from toll operator NTR.

IRHA communications director Jimmy Quinn explained: “There is an option there for the Government to buy out the contract and we would urge that they do that sooner rather than later. The umbrella group represents a broad church of M50 users and the overwhelming feeling is that the Government should take up the buy-back option,”

The group contends that the concept of tolling in major urban centres is fundamentally flawed and is calling for a removal of the toll on the West Link Bridge through the buy-back option.

“In Europe tolls are normally located 30 to 40 miles away from major urban centres, which gives the traffic a chance to dissipate. I cannot think of another example in Europe, where a toll is placed on orbital route, such as the M50,” Quinn added.

Even if the Government decided to grasp the gauntlet thrown down by the alliance, which seems unlikely, given the fact that the State is a major benefactor from the West Link Bridge, it doesn’t solve the question: Who should pay for future infrastructure?

The IRHA believes that business big and small across the country should be asked to contribute to an infrastructure fund, through a two per cent levy on corporate profits.
“We made a proposal last year where a two per cent levy on profits could be put into infrastructure. That scheme would raise in the region of £600 million annually. That would allow the Government to borrow £6 billion, which could be spent on developing the roads and rail network and our public transport system,” Murtagh recalled.

At the time the proposal was rubbished by IBEC, who claimed the levy would eat into Ireland’s competitiveness. “We were prepared to pay the levy, but the proposal was shot down by IBEC. Every company in the country would have benefited from the levy through improved infrastructure and shorter journey times.”

The discussion document, which was prepared by a leading firm of consultants didn’t gain popular support at the time, mainly due to IBEC’s opposition but it had its merits.

The association could do worse than send a copy to transport Minister Martin Cullen and his deputy, Junior Minister Ivor Callely.