Hauliers who staged a protest on the M50 in Dublin yesterday are to announce details in the coming days of further action in their campaign against tolls on the motorway.
About 190 lorry drivers who are members of the recently formed Road Transport Association (RTA) took part in the "go-slow" on both sides of the M50 between the M1 interchange and the Red Cow roundabout between 7am and about 12.30pm.
Severe traffic congestion had been expected. However, gardaí said disruption was minimal largely due to commuters using alternative routes. Traffic was moving freely on the M50 by 1pm, gardaí said.
The RTA, a 200-strong organisation which broke away from the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) last January, said they went ahead with the protest because of a lack of Government response to their concerns.
Hauliers have had to use the M50 to access Dublin port since the introduction of the ban on five-axle lorries from the city centre last February. RTA spokesman Michael McMahon said hauliers were being doubly penalised because they were forced to pay the West-Link toll and faced falling profits because of the delays on the M50.
"We agree that there should be a HGV (heavy goods vehicle) management strategy, but the Seán Moore Road should be reopened and the HGV ban should be pushed aside until the M50 upgrade is completed," Mr McMahon said.
Although the disruption to traffic was minimal Mr McMahon believed the protest was successful and said the RTA would continue its campaign.
"It took 350 gardaí just to make the traffic flow on the M50 yesterday. This was our first protest and we will be having a meeting of our executive later this week to decide our next action, but we won't be going away."
IRHA spokesman Jimmy Quinn said that while his organisation shared the RTA's concerns, yesterday's protest was a "futile exercise" and the IRHA would continue to work with the Department of Transport to secure the abolition of tolls on the M50.
