Mr. Eoin Gavin:

Thankfully, two budgets ago the Minister announced a fuel rebate for the road haulage industry. It has been applied since July 2013 so it is only 12 months in operation. The scheme has been very helpful. It has encouraged our international fleet to fill their trucks back in Ireland. I have spoken to companies such as Topaz and Tedcastles and they indicate that diesel sales in commercial fleets are up. There is a big swing back to purchasing fuel in this country. There has been a big swing also away from trucks that were operating in the black market using laundered fuel because if one purchases fuel with proper invoices there is a rebate available for tax-compliant hauliers. The scheme is very successful.

At the time of the discussions on the fuel rebate we put forward proposals that were tax-neutral. We are not looking for handouts. Other industries can put their hands up and get millions of euro, but we are very small, fragmented family businesses that do not have much clout. We try to be tax-neutral in our proposals. Road tax is a serious issue. It costs €4,000 to tax one truck in Dublin while it costs £650 to tax a truck in Newry. If one goes to Newry every day one has to pay £10 sterling on top of that. Our economists tell us on a business basis that we should move our fleet out of the country. If that were to happen, Irish exports would be in big trouble. As an island off the west coast of Europe, we would be relying on European or UK hauliers to bring Irish farm produce, fish produce, goods produced by multinational companies and pharmaceutical goods out of this island 12 months of the year, hail, rain or snow. They would not do it. They would not cross the Irish Sea.