IRISH road hauliers were being unfairly held up on British roads on pretexts as minor as a blown bulb, a Fianna Fail deputy said. Mr Noel Treacy (FF, Galway Fast) said the drivers were sometimes held overnight by police. This was in contravention of EU law which aimed to facilitate free movement of goods. He asked the Minister for Transport at Question Time to raise the matter with the British authorities.

The Minister of State, Mr Emmet Stagg, said he had no complaints of unfair treatment of Irish drivers in Britain. "Their laws are more stringent than ours but we have plans, to bring our laws into line with the more stringent laws in Britain, he said.