Limerick Tunnel cost taxpayers €26m over past three years

FIGURES from Transport Infrastructure Ireland have revealed that the Limerick Tunnel has cost the taxpayer €26 million over the past three years.

The figures show that taxpayers have paid €32 million, including €26 million in Limerick, to two private toll operators over the past three years.

According to Limerick city Sinn Féin TD Maurice Quinlivan this is due to “lower than expected traffic volumes on the Limerick Tunnel and the M3 motorway”.

“The Limerick Tunnel represents a terrible deal for the taxpayer, with the state paying over €26m in the past three years,” Deputy Quinlivan said.

Figures from the TII showed that the taxpayer paid almost €8 million to the company which operates the Limerick Tunnel in 2020, €11 million in 2021 and €7 million in 2022.

“These PPP contracts that permit these extremely generous traffic guarantee payments are a legacy of bad economic policy choices and decisions made by successive Fianna Fáil-led administrations in the early 2000s,” Deputy Quinlivan said.

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“Thousands of cars and trucks come through Limerick City every day because they won't or can't afford to pay the toll, unlike Cork City where their tunnel remains toll-free.

“When Limerick Tunnel was built the state was awash with money and the Fianna Fáil government committed to just giving it away...

“Tolling the Limerick Tunnel or the M3 road never made sense and taxpayers are left to foot the bill when these roads are underused,” the Sinn Féin deputy added.

Deputy Quinlivan continued: “The Limerick Tunnel contract runs until 2041, while the M3 contract doesn’t expire for another 30 years, so we can expect these payments to increase significantly over the next few decades as people move to more sustainable modes of transport.

“The taxpayer will be left with a bill of hundreds of millions of euros as a result,” Deputy Quinlivan continued.