Tolling FAQs

A toll is a payment to use a bridge, road, or tunnel.

Tolling has been in operation in Ireland since the 1980s. A key element of the Government’s 2000-2006 National Development Plan was to improve Ireland’s physical infrastructure, particularly the National Road Network. The Government used public-private partnership contracts to help finance about a quarter of the planned national roads programme, estimated at approximately €5.5bn at the time.

Irish toll roads are public infrastructure owned by the Irish government and administered by Transport Infrastructure Ireland.

A public-private partnership (“PPP”) is an arrangement between a public authority and a private partner designed to deliver a public infrastructure project and service under a long-term contract. Under this contract, the private partner bears significant risks and management responsibilities. PPP projects are generally funded and constructed by the private partner, following which it is made available for public use and is paid for by the State and/or users over an extended period, after which the asset comes into State ownership.

There are ten toll roads on the National Road Network. Eight are operated under a toll concession Public Private Partnership (PPP) model and two are operated directly on behalf of Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII); the M50 and Dublin Tunnel. (Note: Ringsend Toll Bridge (formally known as EastLink) is a regional road and is owned and managed by Dublin City Council.)

We are responsible for national roads network, which is made up of the primary and secondary roads- beginning with M and N - including motorways, dual carriageways, and single lane roads in Ireland. This accounts for 5,306 km of roadway. This network carries almost 50% of all road traffic and over 90% of all freight traffic nationally and, as such, is critical to the effective functioning of our economy and society.

Approximately 450 km of the road network managed by TII was constructed and is currently operated and maintained by Public Private Partnership companies, the majority of which are toll concessions.

More information on PPPs is available here.

The National Road Network is a vital asset in need of ongoing investment and maintenance. The tolls collected on behalf of TII for the M50 and Dublin Tunnel are used to fund TII’s ‘Protection and Renewal” activities.

The toll revenue collected by the PPP Companies on the PPP toll roads (M1, M3, M4, N6, M7/M8, N8, Limerick Tunnel, N25) are also used to fund operations, maintenance, and renewals activities and to pay back the loans borrowed by the PPP companies to construct the road in the first place.

‘Protection and Renewal” activities include cleaning pavements and drains, replacement of items like public lighting bulbs, repairs to signs, pavements, road markings, potholes, and damage to the roads from vehicles, as well as interventions to extend the life of roads e.g., surface dressing and revegetation of bridges. Activities also include replacing parts of the road when needed, e.g., replacing a bridge, a drain, or a significant portion of a road.

Vehicles belonging to and used for official purposes by the Defence Forces, vehicles used by An Garda Síochána (the Irish police force), fire brigade vehicles, ambulances and disability modified vehicles. Additionally, Heavy Goods Vehicles are exempt from tolls when using the Dublin Tunnel. This is to support the removal of trucks from Dublin’s city centre.

In 2023, tolls collected on behalf of TII for the M50 and Dublin Tunnel amounted to €190 million and €27 million respectively. Combined with revenue share from M1 and M4 PPP contracts, this brings the total collected by TII in 2023 to just under €229 million, a 12.8% increase from the €203 million collected in 2022.

The level of tolls charged by Toll Roads on the National Road Network is regulated through an inflation adjustment mechanism as set out in the Toll By-laws. The by-laws outline the calculation method for toll rates and contain provisions to prevent toll operators from charging toll rates which are higher than a specific level which is defined as a ‘maximum toll’ for each vehicle class. Further information on Toll Bye Laws is on the TII website and can be found here.

Tolls only increase when there is an increase in the underlying rate of inflation. For example, toll charges increased in 2023, 2024 and will increase in 2025, but between 2014 and 2021, which was a period of low inflation in Ireland, most tolls for passenger cars did not increase year by year and there were decreases in toll rates in 2010 and 2011.

The Board of TII approves increases in tolls for Dublin Tunnel and the M50. Any increases of the tolls for PPP toll roads (subject to the limits specified in the by-laws) is primarily a matter for the PPP companies, and TII are not entitled to interfere in this process.

Directly with the toll operator. Contact information for each toll road operator can be found here.

TII oversee toll operations and want to know about any issues that customers experience when interacting with toll operators. Please contact customerservice@tii.ie with the details of your complaint.

The M50 operates barrier-free tolling between Junction 6 (N3 Blanchardstown) and Junction 7 (N4 Lucan) of the motorway, indicated by purple signs and a gantry. There is no physical plaza. You have until 8pm the following day to pay this journey with eFlow.

The tolling operator can provide receipts of payment. Contact information for each toll road operator can be found here.