Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)

I welcome this technical Bill which is also welcomed by the haulage industry. There will be stiff penalties for unlicensed hauliers, which is to be welcomed because there was frustration in the industry at the fact that only licensed hauliers were compliant It is a welcome move to see unlicensed hauliers facing stringent penalties. I acknowledge the Minister's work in this regard.

We must also acknowledge the role of hauliers, as we sometimes forget their contribution on the roads. While we are on a quest for excellence in our jobs, others use their vehicles on the roads for their respective jobs in travelling from A to B. By contrast, hauliers are the ambassadors and professionals on the roads. Car salesmen, van drivers and hauliers know how to drive and make a unique contribution to ensuring road safety. A lorry driver may have years of experience or minimal experience, but he or she will still have the lorry driver skill set. He or she can anticipate danger every minute he or she is on the road. Such drivers are watching out for anti-social behaviour, anticipating and witnessing risky behaviour by oncoming vehicles. I recommend that the Minister sit down with a dozen randomly selected hauliers to ask them what is needed to ensure improved road safety. The hauliers representative groups have a job to do such as lobbying on different issues such as carbon tax, fuel smuggling and fuel laundering. While the Road Safety Authority is doing good work, with a budget of over €22 million, a tremendous insight and an invaluable source of knowledge can be provided by hauliers who know, anticipate and avoid dangers on the road. They can drive onto the hard shoulder or anticipate cars overtaking on corners or overtaking lorries on a continuous white line. They anticipate a danger, but we do not monitor this aspect. As speed cameras do not anticipate this risky behaviour, we have an invaluable resource in hauliers and it is only right that we should ask these ambassadors of the industry for their opinions. We all think we know how to drive and everyone who gets behind the wheel thinks he or she is a good driver without comparing himself or herself to those who are good at the job. Hauliers are an untapped resource that we should examine.

I acknowledge the economic role of hauliers. There is a workforce of 50,000, including technicians and persons working in warehouses.

It is time to stamp out the practices of hauliers who wash diesel, smuggle, do not register for licences and undercut legitimate drivers because they create a playing field that is not level for those who are compliant. I have mentioned the issue of cabotage and acknowledge the Minister is examining it. I encourage him to examine the British-Irish Council as a vehicle for considering how we can co-operate more closely on an east-west and North-South basis. The United Kingdom and Ireland have different interpretations of cabotage rules, meaning that Northern Ireland hauliers are considered domestic hauliers in Britain while having full domestic level access to the Irish market. Irish hauliers, on the other hand, can only carry out three operations in Britain per week. That might suit long distance hauliers and companies which only work on the basis of making three journeys per week, but it is difficult for hauliers in Border counties who work in the sand and gravel industry and must travel over and back frequently. I, therefore, ask the Minister to look into this issue.

There is room for impediments to b e examined on an east-west basis. If there is anything I can do as co-chairman of the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly and in my work with the British Irish Chamber of Commerce to eradicate red tape and make business easier on an east-west basis, I will be glad to do it.

See this speech in context