Mr. Eoin Gavin:

I thank Deputy O'Donovan for is support in respect of the issue relating to Foynes, on which we have been engaged in ongoing talks with the Department, the Road Safety Authority and the Garda. It is a major problem. Some 46% of trucks which come into Dublin Port every morning are out-of-State or foreign vehicles. Their owners or operators contribute zero to our road network and they also contribute zero in terms of PAYE or PRSI. However, best of all, they will be able to claim the fuel rebate. We have a national haulage fleet of 4,000 vehicles and these are predominantly owned by family businesses. Those businesses are struggling to survive. Next April we will be paying £10 in the North of Ireland. The reason that there was illegal haulage at Foynes on the part of Northern Irish, UK and Scottish operators is because they do not want to register here as hauliers as a result of the fact that road tax is too expensive and the level of enforcement is too high. If they remain both out-of-State and legal operators, they will not be subject to either enforcement or road tax. Again, a big wedge is being driven between legitimate Irish hauliers and out-of-State operators. We would really appreciate it if the committee could see fit to instigating an investigation into this entire matter.