Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)

I can respond briefly on the working time directive because it is subject to new rulings from the EU. It is currently under discussion. We have no proposals for a scrappage scheme. In the current economic climate we will not contemplate that. In the past we have tried to encourage the haulage industry to renew the fleet by increasing the standards and facilitating them in upgrading to the next standard of vehicle. Regarding the compilation of statistics, I will check for the Deputy to see if they are compiled. They may be compiled somewhere but I am not sure I see the merit in spending time and resources counting the number of lorries coming in and out of the country from foreign countries. I am not being facetious but it is an open and liberal market and our trucks can do business in other countries in Europe.

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