Sir, – Further to Newton Emerson’s “Northerners envy Republic’s motorways – but tolls are a bridge too far” (Opinion & Analysis, June 27th), visitors to the beautiful region of Brittany in northwest France may notice that unlike the rest of France, the region does not have any tolled motorways.
During the 15th century, Duchess Anne of Brittany married King Charles VIII, leading to Brittany becoming part of France. Apparently a condition of the arranged marriage was that no tolls would be levied on Breton roads.
To this day, there are no tolled motorways in that part of France, stemming perhaps from that historical union.
If a united Ireland were to come about and a touchy subject like road tolling needed to be negotiated with Dublin, politicians north of the border could perhaps take some inspiration from a French solution to a French problem. – Yours, etc,
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TERRY O’FLOINN,
Arith,
France.
