Motorists warned of protest on M4/M6

Gardaí have advised motorists to avoid the M4/M6 motorway tomorrow due to a planned protest against tolling by the Irish Road…

Gardaí have advised motorists to avoid the M4/M6 motorway tomorrow due to a planned protest against tolling by the Irish Road Haulage Association.

The hauliers, who insist toll charges are too high, plan to drive up to the toll booths at 7am and refuse to pay the charges, which amount to €6.20 for a lorry.

Under the contract between toll operator Eurolink and the National Roads Authority, the barriers must be raised if vehicles are met with delays or queues of about six cars or more.

The hauliers say this clause should oblige Eurolink to raise their toll barriers to allow traffic free passage. Traffic travelling from the West is most likely to be affected.

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Extra gardaí will be on traffic duty in the area to facilitate the protest and keep disruption to a minimum.

Jimmy Quinn, spokesman for the IHRA said hauliers had massive public support behind their protest.

"We believe that the Irish public share with us a genuine concern at the large numbers of toll roads that are being put in place across Ireland and these toll charges are a further example of taxation on our industry," he said.

"We expect our demonstration to last no longer then two hours and we anticipate many of our members to travel from across Ireland and let their voice be heard."

Eurolink, which operates the toll, said this afternoon it regretted the fact that the "unnecessary" protest was taking place.

"The company considers that the 36 kilometres of M4/M6 motorway provides excellent value for money for all motorists, including hauliers," said John Keaveney, Operations Manager.

"We estimate time savings on the Motorway of up to an hour on a round trip. It equates to a clear saving in commercial terms for haulage companies, for whom time is money. Coupled with this the hauliers also achieve clear savings on fuel consumption."

The Government is planning a second toll on the proposed Dublin-Galway route in addition to that on the M4. Further tolls are planned on the Waterford city bypass in the constituency of the Minister for Transport Martin Cullen and on the Dublin-Cork route south of Portlaoise, among others.

The number of new tolls is also angering the hauliers. According to the association, tolls at the M1, M50 and now the M4 are too close together and impose an intolerable burden on lorries which travel these routes regularly.