The Transport Minister has agreed to review the planned increases in road tolls.

Eamon Ryan met with the other coalition leaders last night and agreed to examine the hikes, which are due to coming into force on January 1st.

It comes less than a day after he told Newstalk that reversing the hikes would be “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

The changes will see tolls increasing by up to 60c per journey; however, there has been widespread backlash against the plan from Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil politicians.

Yesterday, Minister Ryan said the companies operating the tolled roads are legally entitled to inflationary increases – and any reversal on the decision would leave the State liable for compensation.

He warned that the money would have to come from the existing Transport budget – impacting on the Government’s ability to improve public transport road maintenance services.

The Irish Times reports this morning that the bill could be as high as €25m.

It notes that Minister Ryan agreed to review the move after concerns were raised at his meeting with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste last night.

The proposed changes would see tolls rising by either 10c or 20c on the country’s eight public-private partnership motorways.

Tolls on the M50 would jump from €2.10 to €2.30 for those using tags, €2.70 to €2.90 for those captured on video, and €3.20 to €3.50 for unregistered vehicles.

The Dublin Port Tunnel is the only tolled road in the country not facing an increase.