Fine Gael Cork North Central Deputy, Dara Murphy, has said the announcement by the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, that no new tolls are to be introduced is extremely welcome as it means that the proposed tolls for the Cork/ Limerick road and the Jack Lynch Tunnel will not now go ahead.

He said: "The Minister has clearly stated that owing to the costs that motorists are incurring at the moment he is reluctant to hit them again with additional road tolls. Added to this is the fact that it is extremely expensive to install new tolling gantries and, in some cases, approval must be sought from Europe, which could take considerable time to secure, making their introduction not worthwhile.

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"There were two roads in Cork which were mooted for new tolls; the Cork Limerick road and the Jack Lynch Tunnel. Both the Cork Chamber of Commerce and the Cork Business Association had called for the tolls not to be introduced. The people of Cork were, unsurprisingly, largely opposed to the idea too."

The Minister said putting new tolls in place would heap additional costs on motorists at a time when they have little capacity to absorb them.

He concluded: "There has been no firm commitment from the Minister that tolls will not go up again in the future, however, he has said that it is highly likely that they will rise in accordance with inflation so no dramatic increase is expected."

(CD/GK)