Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raised some of these issues this morning in the Dáil with the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. It is unusual that Ireland and the UK are unable to come to a more amicable and common-sense arrangement. The Minister was at pains to point out that the UK was governed by some EU regulations - the cabotage rules - and he was making the point that the EU regulations were the reason. If the road hauliers want to get a better deal it will have to come from the Irish Government and be an internal arrangement. When the hotels were on their knees they were given a VAT reduction to avoid hotel closures. The haulage industry will ship out 20,000 jobs to outsourcing if it does not get a better deal. It is a case of doing the maths and deciding what is the most sensible action. A loss of approximately €15 million to €30 million in VAT resulted in a reduction of the VAT rate for restaurants, but there was an all-round saving because the measure made economic sense. The hauliers will have to push the Government to get a deal rather than expecting to get the UK to throw any crumbs their way.