Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 July 2018

Committee on Budgetary Oversight

Environmental Impact of Fiscal Instruments: Discussion (Resumed)

4:00 pm

Photo of Danny Healy-RaeDanny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I would like to see them coming in here more because I am afraid that they will do something to the haulage industry without realising the harm they are doing or that they may do. The witnesses have explained it simply.

The amount the haulage industry contributes to the Exchequer should be mentioned. It is vital for bringing our goods to places as far away as Cahersiveen and Castletownbere, as the witnesses stated. It is a different thing when one goes down there because the roads are not as good and one uses way more diesel on that type of road. People in those rural places need to get their goods and supplies just as much as their counterparts it in the cities of Dublin, Cork or Limerick. I am amazed by the way Governments and Ministers change their advice. In 2007, we were advised to buy diesel cars and there was an incentive introduced which reduced the amount of motor tax to be paid. Now in the way one flicks a switch, we are being told that we must change and opt for electric cars. People who do not know what they are talking about are even suggesting it for lorries. How ridiculous can they be? They need to wake up and join the real world because in the context of delivering a load from Dublin to Cahersiveen or from Dublin to Castletownbere, there is nothing that will replace a lorry with a diesel engine. They had better just shut up until they have something to offer because they are only wasting people's time and upsetting road hauliers who-----