Ireland’s history with toll roads is long and winding. Our first toll was introduced in 1729, early enough that provision was made to charge users to bring cattle along the route – 10 pence per 20 large animals. More prophetic, perhaps, was the sixpence fee for four-wheel wagons to travel that turnpike road from Dublin city to Kilcullen Bridge in Kildare.
Later came dublin’s Ha’penny Bridge, in 1816, the toll so ingrained in its history that nobody would recognise the bridge by its original name.
Those operators would likely look on in envy at the revenue being generated by the Republic’s modern toll roads, whose owners saw their revenues rise to more than €476 million last year. The figure, nearly a quarter higher than pre-Covid toll revenues in 2019, amounts to €1.3 million every day.
tolls are set to increase from January 1st,2026. Southbound rush-hour traffic using the Dublin Port Tunnel will see an increase of €1 to €14; tagged vehicles on the M50 will see a 10 cent rise, and charges will also rise on the State’s other tolls roads.
We’ve come a long way from the sixpence charged in 1729. So who is tolling the roads? And who will benefit from these higher prices?
[ have your say: How much are you paying in tolls on your commute? ]
A maze of legal ties stretching from Ireland to every corner of the globe reveals that Royal BAM Group, the company behind the new national children’s hospital, Japanese investment bank Daiwa and a fund set up by the founder of Ikea are among those taking in the tolls.
These motorway projects were built using public-private partnership (PPP) contracts, with the M50 bridge opening to the public in 1990, and the bulk of the rest following in its wake in the mid-2000s.
There are 10 toll roads in the national road network, eight of which operate under the PPP model.The M50 and Dublin Tunnel (or else known as the Port Tunnel) are operated by a private company on behalf of Transport infrastructure Ireland (TII), which is a State agency. The East Link bridge, formally known as the Tom Clarke Bridge, was built via PPP, but the toll was retained after the bridge was handed back to Dublin City Council 10 years ago.
PPP schemes work by private investors financing, operating and maintaining the roads in exchange for tolling the users, or they receive payments to keep it running, usually for 25 to 35 years. After this period, ownership switches to the State.
*Figure represents the combined revenue of the M50 and Dublin Tunnel. A further €9.8 million operating payment was made to M50 (Concession) Limited by TII in 2023
Conor Faughnan, a transport policy expert and former AA Ireland director of consumer affairs, says the PPP programmes have been transformative for the State’s road networks. However,he opposes the use of tolls as the repayment option for the schemes.
Involving the private sector, he says, has a number of benefits: it provides access to
the council has not yet filed accounts for its subsidiary, which operates the toll, The Ringsend toll Bridge DAC. This entity is paid a management fee and also generates income from advertising hoardings around the toll plaza.
M1 Western Bypass – Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk)
The M1 motorway between Gormanston, Co Meath, and Ballymascanlan, Co Louth, is contracted to Celtic Roads Group (Dundalk). as is common across these PPP rights, the company has been bought and sold a number of times since the contract was first awarded.
Companies owned by Semperian Group hold one-third of the shares, with another third held by CVC DIF, the infrastructure management arm of Amsterdam-listed, €200 billion asset manager CVC Capital Partners plc. The final portion of the company is shared by Royal BAM Group,the Dutch construction behemoth that is also building the national children’s hospital,combined with dutch pension fund PGGM Group.
[Northerners look on the Republic’s motorways with envy – but tolls are a bridge too far]
Revenue on the road reached €38.4 million in 2024,up from €34.5 million in the previous 12 months. The company made a €19.4 million pretax profit, more than €3 million higher than in 2023, making it the most profitable privately held route in the State. The revenue share with TII increased from €3.2 million to nearly €4 million.
The toll route is operated on a contractual basis by a secondary company, Northlink Limited, which itself made a profit of €1 million. It is majority owned by Egis – another recurring name in the sector – with the minority shares held by Semperian Group companies and BAM.
M3 Clonee to Kells – Eurolink Motorway operations (M3) Ltd
Semperian also owns an 80 per cent share of the M3 operator, with Cintra holding the remaining 20 per cent shareholding. This came as part of the aforementioned €61.1 million deal for critically important shares in the M3 and M4 motorways by Cintra to DIF in 2015 and subsequent sale of the shares to Semperian in 2022. The company saw turnover fall from €16 million to €13.7 million in 2024, but pretax profits widened to €3.4 million.
M4/M6 Kilcock to Kinnegad – Eurolink Motorway Operations Ltd
the M4/M6 was to cost a total of €400 million, to be recouped over a 30-year concession. The State provided €170 million of that sum and retains a revenue share that goes to TII.
After changing hands multiple times, it is now 80 per cent owned by Semperian, with Cintra retaining a 20 per cent shareholding in the firm. cintra’s shareholding contains the Interogo Foundation, a Lichtenstein-based entity set up by the founder of Ikea, ingvar Kamprad.
Turnover from the toll road increased to €29.1 million last year, up from €27.5 million the previous financial period, which helped the company to record a €7.5 million pretax profit. A further €9.6 million was paid to TII, up from €8.7 million in 2023.
M6 Ballinasloe to Galway – N6 (Concession) Limited
The M6 PPP is owned
Ownership and Financial Performance of Key Irish Toll roads (2024 Data)
Here’s an overview of the ownership and recent financial performance of several key toll road concessions in the Republic of Ireland, based on data from 2024 and early 2025.
M7/M8 Portlaoise Bypass – Celtic Roads Group (Portlaoise)
Ownership of the M7/M8 Portlaoise bypass underwent a significant change in 2024. Previously held by a consortium including Atlas Investments plc (a spin-off of NTR plc),Grupo ACS,and a joint venture of BAM and PGGM Group,the road is now fully owned by BAM and PGGM Group following a buyout of the other shareholders.[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
The road continues to be a high-revenue toll route, generating €23.2 million in revenue, a 21% increase compared to 2019. Despite this revenue, the company reported a pretax loss of €8.6 million.Though, after accounting for interest and depreciation, the net cash flow was a substantial €11.86 million.[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
M8 Fermoy Bypass – Directroute (Fermoy) Limited
The M8 Fermoy bypass is currently 75% owned by a partnership of 3i Group plc and TIIC (the same coalition involved in the Limerick Tunnel since 2019). The remaining 25% is held by Aberdeen Infrastructure Partners LP, a UK-based investment firm.The original contract was awarded to a partnership including Strabag, Kellogg Brown & Root, Sisk, Lagan, and Roadbridge.[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
Directroute (Fermoy) Limited reported a pretax profit of €7.3 million on revenue of €19.35 million in the last fiscal year, with the vast majority of revenue derived from tolls. However, the Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) received only €35,000 from this route.[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
M17/M18 Gort to Tuam – Directroute (Tuam) Holdings Limited
The M17/M18 Gort to Tuam scheme is owned by HICL Infrastructure plc, a British investment company.Unlike other toll roads, funding for this route is not based on traffic volume but on “availability payments” indexed to inflation. These payments were slightly lower in the last year compared to 2023.[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
The company achieved a pretax profit of €10.4 million, up from €8.13 million in 2023, and distributed a dividend of €5.35 million to its owners.[source:[source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
N25 Waterford Bypass – Celtic Roads Group (Waterford) DAC
The N25 Waterford Bypass and the Thomas Francis Meagher bridge have seen multiple ownership changes. Initially led by Altas investments with BAM as a minority shareholder, the company underwent a debt restructuring in 2021 resulting in ownership by a group of banks and CVC Capital Partners.[Source:[Source:The Irish times – based on the provided text].
In 2023, the toll company was acquired by a consortium of investors operating thru a Luxembourg-based entity. This consortium includes IST Investment Foundation (a Swiss pension manager), Daiwa Securities Group (a Japanese investment bank), and Real Assets Investment Management (a UK-based investor).[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
Turnover for the last fiscal year was €13.4 million, an increase from €12.3 million in 2023, with a reported pretax profit of €3.3 million.[Source:[Source:The Irish Times – based on the provided text].
Disclaimer: This details is based on data reported in The Irish Times as of November 14, 2025, and reflects the financial year ending prior to that date. Financial data can change, and further details can be found in the companies’ official reports.