Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

I raise this issue about the dispute at Eddie Stobart Limited because of two major concerns. First, the conditions under which the truck drivers work and, second, the safety of the drivers and the general public.

With regard to conditions, I am seriously concerned that work practices for Stobart Ireland drivers are making such high demands on them that their driving could become unsafe. It must be remembered that much of the work they do is done at night time. For example, a night driver with Monday and Tuesday as his rostered days off might finish on Monday morning at approximately 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. He then goes home to bed, having been driving all night. This is his first rest day. He gets up on Tuesday and must ring the company by 12 noon to find out his next start time. The company position is that it can start him at any time after midnight. Therefore, if he is required to work at midnight, he needs to get some more sleep as he will be driving all night. He will have no further time off until the following Monday morning when the cycle commences again.

Another important issue is that rest time is interrupted by having to phone in for start times and the driver may need to make several calls during the day. In the case of long-haul truck drivers, this should be a matter of concern, as their safety on the road is endangered if they do not get enough rest. The practice at Stobart Ireland is that start times are continually changed with the result that drivers develop no sleeping pattern. Start times can be 1 a.m., 5 a.m., 10 a.m. or 6 p.m. There is no manageable routine for drivers so that fatigue and the risk of falling asleep are serious issues. Procedures at Stobart Ireland include a non-rolling roster, which is highly unusual in the industry. This means that those who are rostered off on Tuesdays and Wednesdays will never be off any weekend or any other time.

I urge the Minister to look at the Organisation of Working Time Act, in particular section 17, with regard to this issue. This section provides for 24-hour notice for start times in circumstances such as this. I call on Stobart Ireland to sit down and address the issues with the drivers. Otherwise, the fatigue issue may lead to accidents. This is a nightmare waiting to happen. Not alone are drivers' lives at risk, but if such huge trucks go out of control, other car drivers, pedestrians and cyclists face significant danger. Stobart Ireland trucks carry a great deal of Tesco foodstuffs around the country and given those close links, I would urge Tesco to use its influence to try to sort out this issue. It would be greatly appreciated if it applied that kind of pressure on Stobart Ireland.

This issue ought to be of huge public interest and I appeal to the media to cover the issue more thoroughly than it has done so far. A light needs to be shone on the issue in order to ensure both the safety of drivers and of the public.

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