Higgins connects toll charges with Afghan crossings

Toll charges on the M50 were described in the Dail on Tuesday, January 31st, as medieval and compared to an Afghan warlord fleecing peasants who crossed a pass he controlled.

Dublin Socialist TD Joe Higgins (Dublin West) used Afghanistan to compare conditions with those in Ireland.
"If a warlord in the Hindu Kush controlled a vital pass and fleeced the unfortunate peasants who had to pass through it every day for their livelihoods, some people would say, well that's Afghanistan, it's the dark ages.
"It defies belief that in the capital city of the Ireland of 2006, that tens of thousands of working people making their way to work are being held to ransom because they have to cross the River Liffey, control of which has been given to a private company," he said.

Insisting that the decision had been made on the toll roads, Mr Ahern said the M50 would be upgraded and that barrier-free tolling would be introduced.
It was, he said, a condition of An Bord Pleanala that a traffic study be carried out.
He added that they could not end tolls if they were to carry out the infrastructural work that was needed.