Mr. Eugene Drennan:

The IMDO report is definitely flawed. It was cold statistics that were taken from a time that was not relevant before the actual movement. When Brexit came, and it was going on long enough to have it corrected and we should have been better prepared, it was not ready. We, the Irish Road Haulage Association, guaranteed the two people who brought the first of the extra sailings into Rosslare that we would give them our business to try to get it launched, and the rest of the direct sailings followed from that. They are a private entity. We were approached by two men and we were sworn to silence for a while but we were ready to go. The vested interests, who were at it already, had all the reasons why not and all the blockages that were there, and then marry that with the fact that the State did not get the right information and was not ready to go.

On the tachograph, the Deputy is correct about the flows. At the inception of the tachograph back in 1973, and I am sure Deputy Ó Murchú will love the following, the only one who spoke for the island of Ireland and took interest in it was the late Rev. Ian Paisley. The reason he did that was the Northern Ireland hauliers at the time and the stronger people there had a good hold of his ear, and he was educated about the matter and he knew a little bit about this matter.

On influences, the French, central European states and French unions had a big influence on the matter. The French unions are a law unto themselves and had a lot of restrictive practices, which had an influence on what happened here. What did not come in on the tachograph, and we are still fighting over it, is the island nation status. As I say to everyone, we should be recognised as an island nation and island nations need extra extensions of central European laws. Even though the economics of it are there and, for the most part, are to protect the Union but being an island nation brings a lot of challenges. Now, and this is going through the Irish Road Transport Union, IRU, at the moment, they are opening up the hours of driving for bus operations and coach drivers. Covid has revealed this to us. There was flexibility during Covid and we had no major crashes or upsets on the roads. I have sought that there will be a flexibility of two hours for the returning trucks of island nations to make the ferry. Such a provision would be such a great easement and it does not just throw open the whole laws.

We are not looking to destroy what is already there. However, they are about to allow coach drivers drive extra time. The man driving the person and who is responsible for human life will be able to drive for longer than the man carrying the suitcase. It does not make sense. I thank the Deputy. Would it be possible for me to get a copy of the Wexford People?