Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Wednesday, 2 July 2025
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport
Issues Facing the Road Haulage Industry: Irish Road Haulage Association
2:00 am
Mr. Paul Jackman:
I will pick up on something Mr. Hyland said. I thank the Senator for his questions. As Mr. Hyland said, he is very familiar with the issues. There is a list of details of the training required for the truck driver. Coupling and uncoupling of trailers is an obligatory part of it that is not included. As Mr. Hyland said, we are getting drivers, and I am involved in the traineeship, who are just not fit for purpose. We have hauliers who then have to train drivers, as the training is so poor. What I have very much seen with the traineeship is the RSA has oversight over every component of it. If it were happening in our education system, there would be war and an outcry. The RSA picks and trains the trainers, and it trains and tests the drivers, but there is no oversight.
I have a CPC card, which we referenced. I have eight drivers. Last weekend, I asked them all specific questions about the tachograph. All of them were wrong in their answers, yet they had been trained by the RSA. If they were stopped on the road, like any of our drivers, with an infringement because of their lack of knowledge, the RSA takes them to court, but it is the RSA that is responsible for the training and it is not training them properly. The CPC course, as it stands, is an absolute nonsense. I will stand over that if I have to.
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