Fine Gael transport spokeswoman Olivia Mitchell has criticised new motorway legislation which would allow foreign drivers to use toll roads, such as the M50, free of charge.
The Roads Bill 2007, which will allow for the introduction of barrier-free tolling, makes provision for Irish-registered vehicles to be charged for using toll roads, but this cannot be extended to cars and lorries from outside the State.
The Bill was welcome in that it removed the West-Link toll barrier, Ms Mitchell said, but the new system for toll-collection was severely flawed. "The system of recording vehicles through the tolling point will simply reject any foreign-registered cars and trucks, so they can sail through as often as desired, while compliant Irish citizens will have to pay up."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Transport said that foreign-registered vehicles accounted for just 2 per cent of those using toll roads and did not represent a significant revenue loss. A solution to transnational tolling was being dealt with at EU level and there was no reason to delay barrier-free tolling in Ireland.
"Neither the Government nor the public would tolerate a situation in which barrier-free tolling is delayed simply because of this issue," the spokeswoman said.
"The benefits to the travelling public of introducing barrier-free tolling far outweigh the problems associated with collecting tolls from foreign-registered vehicles, which will in due course be resolved."
