The Government will not be intervening to stop toll costs increasing across the country, the Irish Mirror has learned.
Despite Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys stating that Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Jack Chambers were engaging with Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) about the increases, it is now understood that this is not the case.
Several Government sources stressed that prices will rise as expected.
READ MORE: Tolls on Ireland's transport network set to rise from July 1 - as hikes for roads near you revealed
TII announced on Tuesday that tolls would increase from July 1 onwards. Costs had been expected to rise from January 1 but were deferred for six months following huge public and political backlash.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Minister Humphreys said any increase in tolls “will come as a disappointment to motorists” and that the ministers would engage with the TII.
“There was a deferment period in place for six months and that was following intervention by the Government,” she said.
“That has come to an end and toll companies have contractual arrangements.
“Overall this is a matter for Minister Ryan and Minister Chambers and TII.
“I know that we're engaging with them and they're engaging with the toll companies as well.”
Minister Humphreys later repeated for a second time that the ministers were speaking to the companies about the price increases.
She added: “This falls under their remit so they are engaged with them. I will await the outcome of that.”
However, several senior Government sources stated that the ministers were not engaging with TII or toll operators and prices will increase as expected.
They noted that the decision to defer the increase in tolls for six months was agreed by the Government and will expire on June 30.
It was argued that the increase in tolls is a “contractual matter” and there has been no engagement with the toll companies by TII or by the Ministers.
“There has been no change to this agreement,” they added.
Another source noted that it was expected there would be backlash over the toll increases and the news had been flagged within Government ranks.
However, it was noted by several sources that the same level of anger that was witnessed in November was not evident over the last number of days.
The toll increases will go up to their maximum rate due to inflation on the M50 and the eight other routes, but there will be no increase on the Dublin Port Tunnel or Dublin’s East Link.
Tolls on the M50 are to increase by 30c to €3.50 for cars without tags, while cars with video accounts will see an increase from €2.70 to €2.90.
Cars with tags face a 20c increase to €2.30.
On the M1, M7, M8, N6, N25 at Waterford and N18 Limerick Tunnel, tolls for cars will increase from €2 to €2.10. On the M3, car tolls will rise by 10c to €1.60, while tolls on the M4 will increase by 20c to €3.20.
News of toll increases in November caused deep division in Government, with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar calling for the increases to be deferred due to the cost of living crisis.
Minister Ryan, meanwhile, said he was not in favour of deferring the increases if it affected other services.
The decision was later taken to push the rises back for six months.
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