Dempsey promises crackdown on unlicensed hauliers

MINISTER FOR Transport Noel Dempsey has promised a crackdown on unlicensed hauliers, those who evade safety requirements and those who use rebated or “green” diesel in road vehicles.

Mr Dempsey made his promise during a meeting with members of the Irish Road Haulage Association. The hauliers told the Minister that rising fuel prices meant there needed to be “a total rethink” of how logistics and distribution are valued in Ireland and throughout Europe.

Speaking after the meeting, association spokesman Jimmy Quinn said the members had not expected Mr Dempsey “to wave a magic wand on fuel prices and he hadn’t done so”.

But they said he did appreciate their position and accepted there should be a crackdown on unlicensed and illegal hauliers who were taking business from legitimate taxpaying hauliers.

Mr Quinn also said the Minister appeared to appreciate that the price of fuel had risen almost 300 per cent since 2001, and that unless transport was radically reappraised as an essential service, there would be major supply-chain difficulties in the short-term.

“We told him the construction sector, the haulage of aggregates and such, was finished and if we don’t get all the players – importers and exporters, freight forwarders, major multiples and ferry companies – to come to the table soon, more people would go out of business,” said Mr Quinn.

The association said it also asked the Minister to examine the possibility of giving excise duty relief to legitimate hauliers.

“This is not a luxury item, to which excise duty should be directed, it is an essential service,” he said.

In a statement after the meeting, Mr Dempsey said he believed a viable indigenous road haulage sector was important to sustain economic competitiveness.