The President of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA), Ger Hyland, has strongly criticised the announcement by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) of increased toll charges for motorists and hauliers from January 2027, describing the decision as “tone deaf” given the mounting pressures facing the transport industry.
Hyland said the announcement comes at a particularly difficult time for Ireland’s transport sector, which is facing a perfect storm of rising fuel costs, ongoing geopolitical uncertainty and significant financial pressures.
He warned that transport operators are already struggling to remain viable, with businesses closing on an almost daily basis. Against this backdrop, the decision by TII to introduce further cost increases demonstrates, he said, a worrying lack of understanding of the challenges currently facing the industry.
Hyland called on Government to intervene and cited the fact that organic traffic volume increases have already significantly bolstered the profits of toll booth operators across the country.
“Our toll booths are profitable and make millions on the backs of motorists and hauliers. On the one hand, government is giving hauliers and ordinary motorists supports to keep their vehicles moving and another branch of government is increasing taxes on motorists and hauliers at a time when most transport operators are one toll away from bankruptcy”
Hyland reiterated his earlier point that increased costs for hauliers will lead to further inflation for Irish households,
“This toll increase will lead to higher supermarket prices, higher inflation and is just another tax on hard pressed motorists and Irish households. They will now pay more for bread, milk and eggs because we will have to pay more to deliver those items”.
Hyland described the moves by TII as price gouging and said that hard working motorists and hauliers are being asked to pay for the inefficiencies of Transport Infrastructure Ireland. He said it undermined the concept of giving ordinary workers a tax break in the recent budget when another arm of government simply takes it off them at our toll booths.
Ger Hyland described the fury amongst transport operators at this announcement given everything that is happening in fuel markets,
“Transport operators will not stand for this. The Government needs to intervene here and reverse this decision. This toll increase will be another nail in the coffin of Ireland’s haulage industry and will see more operators going under. We are seeking an immediate meeting with the Taoiseach to outline hauliers concerns and to ask him to intervene in this dispute”