Ms Verona Murphy:

I thank Deputy Breathnach. I will answer his questions in succession. No, we were not consulted by the ESRI and we were taken aback by the report. As far as I am aware, it was commissioned by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. Mr. Goodwin explained about its assertion on the basis that we had a fuel rebate. I might add that at the time in which the report and study were undertaken, we were not in receipt of the fuel rebate. It only kicks in at a certain level so we had not been in receipt of it. That was the reason for the disgruntlement about the report.

I was asked about Euro 6 cars. I cannot comment on that for obvious reasons. The point I made about AdBlue is that this is what we are doing and it makes us more green. It does little for efficiency but it certainly helps with emissions. Trucks have cost a lot more at the manufacturing stage in the process of developing this system. One is looking at about €27,000 of an increase as well as an exhaust system that does not last as long and has to be replenished after four to five years at a huge cost - somewhere between €5,000 and €8,000, if one purchased a truck with a Euro 6 engine. Again, in relation to the French, the cost of getting off the island of Ireland for a haulage operator is about 30% of the general cost. It equates to the fuel costs. If one is going to the UK, that can be reduced to 20%, as the costs increase when one goes further afield to mainland Europe.

I am conscious that we are not here to discuss congestion, which was Deputy Breathnach's last question, but I did speak to him about it at a recent forum in Drogheda. One initiative that could improve the entire situation, in particular emissions, is by having a dedicated truck lane without barriers. The cost of a truck stopping at a barrier is a litre of fuel. Today's cost is approximately €1.12. We have put that to Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, which does not often listen to what we have to say. That is a huge cost both to the operator and from a CO2 perspective. The M1 in particular has barrier tolling. We do not need or want to sit on the M50 burning fuel when it is 35% of our business outlay. There are solutions but because of the public private partnership and the 30 year contract that is in place, nobody is prepared to spend the money, but if we want a holistic approach, as Deputy Pearse Doherty said, and we want to cure something once and for all, then we have to spend money. Unfortunately, we no longer have it to spend because of all of the regulatory impositions that have been put on us in recent years and with Brexit coming down the line.