Mr. Ger Hyland:

That is fine.

The Irish Road Haulage Association is the representative body for the licensed haulage sector in Ireland. Founded over 50 years ago, the IRHA has a key remit to represent and promote the interests of Ireland's licensed haulage industry, both nationally and internationally. This is achieved through a very clear focus on promoting professionalism, excellence and safety in road transport.

Ireland, as an island, is more dependent on road transport than any other country on mainland Europe with up to 70% of national freight movements and 98% of the import and export of goods having to be transported by road. Our members' dedication and commitment, both within Ireland and on trips across Europe, ensure that the goods and products we need to keep our economy and society functioning effectively and efficiently are delivered without delay.

We really value the role and work of this committee and wish it well as it undertakes its programme of work. We cannot emphasise enough how incredibly important it is to have a committee of the Oireachtas with a specific focus on transport with a strong regulatory oversight of relevant Departments and State agencies. This committee plays a vital role in ensuring that State entities operate effectively in accordance with their mandates and can play a vital role in advocating for change or improvements, including the removal of bureaucratic blockages. It is so important to have a committee with such an oversight role.

As a sector, we are keen to bring a wide range of issues and concerns to the committee's attention in the hope that it can seek answers, responses and actions from the relevant Departments and agencies involved. I will concentrate on a number of key concerns in this opening submission but will be happy to elaborate and discuss additional issues and interests if time allows in questions and discussions with committee members. In the interests of time, I will provide an outline of each of the key issues of concern to our sector at present.

A review was carried out of the role and functions of the Road Safety Authority in 2024 and final proposals are awaited on its reconfiguration. The RSA plays a major role in our sector with responsibilities for: driver testing; driver licensing; driver training, including CPC; road safety promotion, awareness and research; supervising the NCT and the commercial vehicle roadworthiness testing, CVRT; enforcement of road transport regulations; and acting as lead agency on the Government's road safety strategy including advising the Department of Transport and the Minister on road safety policy matters. As a sector that has a direct interaction with the RSA, we believe the time is right for change and we are looking forward to seeing and working with the radical changes to ensure that it is efficient, effective and delivering to its statutory mandate. At present the legislation to reform the RSA seems to be stuck in the "all other legislation" section of the legislative calendar. It needs to be priority legislation, not something on a legislative wish list. We believe this is something that the Department of Transport needs to address urgently.

There have been issues with connectivity between Ireland and Britain, particularly between Dublin and Holyhead. The maintenance of strong and robust trading links between Ireland and Britain is of critical importance to our economy, both in the context of trade with our nearest neighbour and given the continued use of the land bridge across Britain to access continental Europe. The closure of Holyhead Port following storm damage last year highlighted the frailty of the existing links and exposed a fundamental weakness in our transport and logistics chain. The commitment and resilience of IRHA members ensured that alternative routes became viable, without shortages in goods or delays occurring in the important run-in to the Christmas period.

The sector incurred considerable costs because of the closure of the port and we have sought to secure some supports from the Department to help alleviate these costs, given the exceptional nature of the contingency arrangements required. Ironically the substitute arrangements that were put in place in Holyhead to manage the loss of one of the two ramps at the ferry terminal have led to a far better sailing schedule between Britain and Ireland with vessels being spaced out rather than bunched as occurred prior to the port's closure.

This schedule ensured a far more sustainable and frequent sailing schedule, which has benefited all stakeholders.

We are deeply concerned that the port operator, Stena, will revert to the old schedule when the storm damage is finally repaired this month. The current schedules are an improvement on the previous ferry timetable and should be kept in the interests of efficiency, competitiveness, connectivity and the environment. It is important the commercial interests of the ferry companies that ply between Ireland and Britain do not take precedence over the national trading interests of Ireland and Britain. We have contacted the port operator, Stena, as well as the Irish Government, the Welsh Government and the EU Transport Commissioner to seek support for the retention of the current schedules. Between the relevant authorities, there needs to be a direction to Stena and the ferry companies to ensure they maintain the current schedules, rather than revert to schedules which reduce choice and competition and increase congestion and pollution.

Along with many other sectors of the economy, our sector has had significant challenges with labour shortages, both for HGV drivers and mechanics. There are a range of different strategies required to address these shortages. First, we need to engage more people into the sector. We have worked hard to build a positive and constructive traineeship scheme in conjunction with the ETBs. These traineeships are funded through SOLAS from EU education funds. Despite several ETBs having scheduled traineeships fully booked out, they will be unable to run these future HGV traineeship courses as the funding is not being provided by SOLAS. This traineeship needs to be continued if we are to address the structural challenges in getting new people into the sector.

Second, for the foreseeable future, while there is a shortage of suitable candidates in Ireland, we need to ensure we have a functioning and effective work permit and licence exchange system. At present, the system is completely dysfunctional and operates in no one’s interest. For example, if a licensed haulier wishes to bring a non-EU HGV driver into Ireland after exhausting all other avenues, he or she must deal with a nine-step process involving more than eight separate Irish State Departments or agencies, which can take up to 12 months to complete. There are different sequential requirements imposed by different State rules, including labour market tests, employment permits, visas, PPS issuance, residence card, new Irish licence and additional training before a driver qualification card is finally issued. Such a prolonged, convoluted, expensive and uncertain process does absolutely nothing to address labour shortages in our sector in Ireland, particularly given the tight competition we face with other countries which are equally suffering labour shortages but have efficient, flexible and dynamic processes to expedite the acquisition of new skilled workers. The current system serves absolutely no one and only adds to frustration on the part of applicants, licensed hauliers and our customers who need to have continuity of service. This problem requires a whole-of-government solution to close off the silos that have been allowed to develop. If necessary, the Department of the Taoiseach needs to co-ordinate the different Departments and agencies to sort out a bureaucratic mess.

One issue which I am sure all members of the committee are keen to ensure is that we can operate effectively as an all-island economy in order that barriers to trade and commerce across the Island are removed. Regrettably, there are two serious impediments to the operation of all-island economy from our members’ perspective.

The first impediment is the imposition of a HGV levy, which is a UK Government requirement applied on non-UK HGVs north of the Border, despite no reciprocal levy being imposed by the Irish Government on hauliers from Britain or Northern Ireland. This levy applies to HGVs that are not registered in the UK and must be paid before entering Northern Ireland. The rate can be in excess of £10 per day. If a driver forgets to make a payment, the fine for non-compliance of payment of the HGV road levy is a £300, payable immediately at the roadside. If the driver cannot pay the fine on the spot, the vehicle may be impounded until payment, including storage costs. This cost can really mount up for a licensed haulier servicing customers north of the Border or traversing Northern Ireland on a regular basis each week. The charging of this levy should be reviewed, not just in the context of the unfairness and negative impact on the all-island economy, but also considering the Irish Exchequer’s commitment to part-fund the A5 update, whenever that project gets through its regulatory hurdles.

The second impediment concerns the imposition of new tachograph rules that apply on vehicles engaged in international journeys. Under the EU mobility package, vehicles involved in such journeys require a new smart tachograph version 2 to be fitted. The current designation of Northern Ireland as an international destination means HGVs involved in intra-island trips need to meet this requirement, without having left the island. This is an issue that needs to be addressed by the Department of Transport, in conjunction with the Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport in Brussels and the Northern Ireland Executive, specifically the Department for Infrastructure. Hauliers face additional costs and administrative burdens otherwise.

Fuel quality remains an ongoing issue in Ireland. Fuel quality is an important issue as it impacts on a range of different considerations, including engine efficiency, emissions levels, reliability and safety. A fuel that is unsafe can seriously damage an engine. At present, there is no State regulatory body in Ireland overseeing compliance with the relevant EU fuel standard of EN590.

With the issue of fuel quality and the resulting issues for our members ever-growing, we approached several Departments and State agencies in pursuit of some answers. We discovered in Brussels that not only is there no State oversight of fuel quality in Ireland but the obligatory sampling and testing regime, as prescribed by the EU under the ETC, has been given over to fuel retailers Ireland, namely, Fuels for Ireland. This anomaly, which in no way protects the Irish consumer or the Irish supply chain, makes for another failing by the agents of the State to accept and deliver on its responsibilities. We are calling for an urgent review of this current unacceptable situation where our fuel industry is self-regulating, especially when so many different compromising components are being added to our fuels. The IRHA is also pursuing such an outcome through our Brussels office, the IRU and the EU Bio Diesel Board, where considerable traction has been achieved. The Department of Transport needs to get a grip on this issue and oversee the appointment of an independent authority to monitor and maintain fuel quality. Having the industry body that represents petrol retailers carrying out the function is not a good idea, no matter how well intentioned the scheme may be.

As I stated at the start of my opening statement, there are a myriad of issues of importance to the Irish Road Haulage Association in addition to the ones mentioned. We are happy to discuss these with the committee if time allows, as well as answer questions on the aforementioned issues. I thank the committee members for their attention and we look forward to answering any questions they may have about our sector and the issues of current concern.