'Sheer madness, grossly unfair and discriminatory" on county residents

MOTORISTS will have to pay a road toll on their way into the new railway station at Pace when they are exiting the new M3 motorway next year, a councillor claimed this week. Independent Cllr Brian Fitzgerald yesterday (Tuesday) launched a fierce attack on the planned tolling system for the county, saying that it was 'grossly unfair and discriminatory' on the people of the county. He described as 'sheer madness' the planned opening of the toll station at Pace. He said that there was no admission to the train station other than by paying a toll. 'Whoever thought this one up should be put on a toy train and shunted into a siding somewhere,' he said, He called on Minister for Transport and local TD Noel Dempsey to 'call a halt to this crazy situation'. 'It looks like we are going into a scenario in which a person with the good sense to leave the car behind and take the train will have to pay a toll on top of his/her train fare - and I suppose down the line the person will be asked to pay a parking fee as well,' he said. He gave examples of how some motorists will escape or pay very little tolling, depending on the road they take. 'Take a landmark like the Liffey Valley roundabout,' he said. 'If a person leaving that roundabout wants to go to Rosslare, they will have a motorway practically all the way - and pay no toll. If another person leaving the Liffey Valley roundabout wants to go to Athlone - a distance of about 60 miles - they will pay only one toll [€2.90 for a car at present rates]. If a person is driving from Liffey Valley to south of Portlaoise, they will pay no toll. 'However, if a person leaves the Liffey Valley roundabout next year and wants to go to Kells via the M3, he or she will pay three tolls - one the M50, one at Pace, and one North of Navan. Then if you"re coming from Kells or Cavan and want to use the motorway towards Dublin so that you can get on the train at Pace [park and ride], you will have to pay a toll north of Navan and pay another toll on the way into the station.' He said that there was no other way to get into the train station. 'If you want to get the train there, you will have to pay a toll on the way in. And having done your business in Dublin and you head back to Pace by train so you can move on to Kells or Cavan, you will have to pay a toll coming out of the station. 'British Rail used to have a slogan 'Go to work on an egg". In this case, you"d be better getting up on the back of a chicken - because if you don"t, you"ll have to fork up for four tolls in that single return journey.' He called on Minister Dempsey to intervene 'immediately' to stop what he called 'excess tolling' and 'tolling madness' in Meath. 'That toll station at Pace is being built, the foundations are in. The apparatus to screw the drivers of Meath is being put in unless they raise their vocies - and make sure they are heard.' The Cllr said that the toll measures would become 'completely counterproductive' in taking cars and trucks off the roads. 'It is wrong, for instance, that we should be paying two tolls on the M3 for less than 30 miles while other people will be getting away with paying no tolls for longer distances.' Cllr Fitzgerald also attacked the design and planning of the motorway. 'There is no provision to physically take the railway farther than Paceland. There is no provision to go under the motorway at Pace. 'If a decision is made to take the railway on to Navan, as the Minister keeps saying he wants to, then the whole damn shoot will have to be dug up again. It"s a disgrace and a total and absolute waste of money and somebody should be held to account for it.' He asked why there was no provision for motorists to leave the motorway at Pace. 'Drivers will have to go seven to eight miles to Blundellstown in one direction and Pace seven -eight miles in the other direction to get off the M3 so that you can go into Dunshaughlin. 'We have gone toll made in Meath. I wouldn"t mind if there was fairness and equality in all this but there isn"t. The Minister cannot sit idly by - he has to rectify these situations. He is the Minister and he has the power.'