Motorists and hauliers will pay more to use Ireland’s tolled motorways from the first day of 2027. Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) confirmed on Friday that its board has approved increases across the national toll network, including the M50 and the Dublin Port Tunnel, where the morning peak southbound charge goes up by a full euro.
For most car drivers the change is modest, typically 10 or 20 cent per trip. But the announcement has landed badly with the haulage industry, which says it comes at the worst possible time and will eventually show up on supermarket shelves.
What you will pay from 1 January
On the M50, the barrier-free toll between junctions 6 and 7, car and motorbike charges rise as follows, according to figures published by RTÉ:
- Tag account holders: up 10 cent to €2.70
- Video account holders: up 10 cent to €3.30
- Drivers with no account: up 20 cent to €4.00
Goods vehicles up to 2,000kg will pay 10 cent more if they use a tag or are unregistered, and 20 cent more on a video account. Heavier lorries face increases of 20 or 30 cent.
The biggest single jump is at the Dublin Port Tunnel. The southbound charge between 6am and 10am on weekdays rises from €14 to €15. All other Port Tunnel rates stay the same next year. TII said the peak increase reflects growing southbound traffic at that time and the need to keep space in the tunnel for heavy goods vehicles going to and from Dublin Port.
On the eight privately operated motorways built under public-private partnership (PPP) deals, cars and motorcycles will pay 10 cent more at every plaza except the M3 Clonee to Kells route, where car charges are unchanged. The affected PPP roads include the M1, N6, M7/M8, M8, N18 Limerick Tunnel and N25 Waterford bypass. HGV charges on the PPP roads generally rise by 20 cent, or 30 cent for the heaviest multi-axle trucks.
Why tolls are going up
TII says toll levels are regulated by an inflation mechanism set out in toll bye-laws. RTÉ reported that the latest adjustment follows a 3.6% rise in the consumer price index between August 2025 and August 2026.
According to TII, toll income tops up separate Exchequer funding and pays for the operation, maintenance and renewal of the national road network. On the PPP roads, the money also repays the loans the private operators took out to build the motorways in the first place.
Ireland has ten national toll roads in total: eight run under PPP contracts and two, the M50 and the Port Tunnel, operated on behalf of TII.
Hauliers fume over ‘tone deaf’ decision
The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) reacted angrily. Its president, Ger Hyland, told RTÉ’s News at One the increase was a fresh example of “price gouging” by TII and called on the agency to think again.
Speaking to TheJournal, Mr Hyland described the decision as tone deaf and said the sector is already squeezed by rising fuel costs and uncertainty abroad. He argued that higher delivery costs will feed straight into inflation, meaning households will end up paying more for staples such as bread, milk and eggs. The association is seeking an urgent meeting with the Taoiseach and wants the Government to reverse the increases.
Mr Hyland also told RTÉ that hauliers already pay more than €8 at most toll plazas and that stopping and starting at barriers burns extra diesel. He has been calling for dedicated truck lanes at toll plazas for around a decade.
For ordinary commuters, the arithmetic is less dramatic but it adds up. A driver without an M50 account who makes a return trip every working day would pay roughly €100 more over a year; a tag holder making the same journeys would pay around €50 extra. Those are our own estimates based on the published per-trip increases and about 250 working days.
What happens next
The new charges take effect on 1 January 2027 unless the Government intervenes, and there has been no indication so far that it will. The IRHA has said it will keep pressing for a meeting with the Taoiseach. Drivers who regularly use the M50 without an account can cut their costs by registering for a tag or video account, which remain cheaper than paying as an unregistered user.
Full price tables for each toll plaza are expected to be published by TII and the individual toll operators ahead of the change.
Sources
- RTÉ: Toll hikes for motorway, Port Tunnel users from January (30 October 2026)
- TheJournal.ie: Road tolls to increase next year, including all vehicles on M50 and a €1 Dublin Tunnel hike (30 October 2026)
Featured image: Westlink Bridges Dublin Ireland Geograph 412193 7d62a75d.jpg by JP, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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