A Green Party councillor has called for the M50 toll to be scrapped.

Motorists are currently charged between €2.50 and €3.80 to travel on the West Link Toll Bridge on the M50 between Junction 6 Blanchardstown and Junction 7 Lucan. However, Ballyfermot-Drimnagh Councillor Ray Cunningham has said that Chapelizod, which he also represents, is grappling with a "major problem with traffic".

And he believes that the Dublin 20 village's congestion is partly down to drivers bypassing the toll. He told Newstalk: "One of the areas I represent is the village of Chapelizod, which is a small village between Phoenix Park and the Liffey. And we have a major problem there with traffic.

"There's just too many cars and trucks coming through the village. It's loud. There's a lot of pollution, they take up space, and it's dangerous.

"Parents are very worried about their kids going to school. They have to walk them to school.

"They can't let them cycle to school on their own. It's just a very worrying situation, and part of the reason for all this traffic is the drivers are avoiding the toll on the M50, and going through the village instead."

Cllr Cunningham said that research on traffic presented to Dublin City Council indicated that a significant volume of traffic through the city could be redirected onto the M50. He said: "A surprisingly large amount of traffic in the city was going from north to south. It wasn't stopping the city centre.

"The city wasn't the destination. It was avoiding the M50, which is partly driven by the toll.

"The situation we have in Chapelizod and Lucan and in a lot of places in the city where people live have to deal with all the negative effects of traffic, all the noise and the pollution and the danger.

"The M50 is a road that's designed for cars and trucks. There's no houses, there's no pedestrians, there's no cyclists, there's no schools.

"But we are saying that road that's designed for traffic costs money, and the places where people live, it's free to drive. We're pushing people in the wrong direction."

Cllr Cunningham also believes his suggestion aligns with his party's track record in Government. He said: "In the last government, we were very focused on increasing public transport. But when we when we were spending on roads, Eamon Ryan's focus was on bypasses, taking traffic out of towns around the country and sending it around.

"That rejuvenates the towns. And I would say that our focus on transport has to be on the increases in public transport has to be getting MetroLink running, has to be expanding the Dart, expanding the Luas and all those things, because those are the things that you know are really going to solve a lot of climate problems and congestion problems."

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