Seán Conlan (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegates from the Irish Road Haulage Association and fully support their position. I live near the Border and it would be completely detrimental to the haulage industry if the proposed levy were introduced, with the proposals on cabotage and port-to-port transport. The proposed changes would be barriers to trade and ultimately lead to higher consumer prices for everybody on the island. Through the process of the Good Friday Agreement we are trying to create an all-Ireland economy. On Monday I was appointed as rapporteur on behalf of the Government at the British-Irish Assembly and have been charged with producing a report on foreign toll taxes and cabotage. Unlike what Deputy Dessie Ellis stated, I have engaged with the UUP, for which Mr. Danny Kinahan has been appointed co-rapporteur. He will liaise with the Transport Minister in the North, Mr. Danny Kennedy. We will bring the report to the next plenary session and hope to have a resolution of the issue of cabotage which is wider than the North and the South. The Assembly covers a number of islands, including Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, and includes representatives of the Welsh Assembly and the Parliaments in Scotland, at Westminster and in Dublin. We can create a functional area for all of the islands similar to the system which operates in the Benelux countries. We need to take a wider view than simply at the North-South dimension. We could try to ensure that none of our jurisdictions will impose a foreign toll on operators from any other member country of the Assembly. It is also better to look at the issue of cabotage in terms of how it applies in a functional area. We will give serious consideration to this issue which I raised with the Taoiseach when he spoke at the Assembly. I was appointed as rapporteur on behalf of the Joint Committee on European Affairs to deal with it and I look forward to engaging with the Irish Road Haulage Association on it.