Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I acknowledge the cost of fuel affects everyone and not only hauliers. It affects anyone in the general public who drives a car. It also affects the CIE companies and I have a good insight into what the balance sheets of a haulage firm looks like because I see the CIE accounts and I can see how the loss of the fuel rebate and increasing fuel costs hit it. The Minister for Finance did not increase excise on fuel in the budget; he increased VAT. The reason for this is the VAT is recovered by the haulage industry. The only increase the Government has added to the cost of fuel from the point of view of the haulier is a 1.6 cent increase through the carbon tax. All other increases in the past year are down to international factors beyond the control of the Government. We need to recognise that while fuel prices will increase and decrease it is a finite resource and there is an increasing demand for fossil fuels. The overall trend in the coming ten, 20 or 40 years will be upward and in 20 or 30 years time fuel will be extremely expensive. We must bear this in mind when future-proofing our policies and considering how we will move goods around the country.

The issue of fuel tourism is being studied by the Department of Finance. If it is proven we are losing revenue overseas because of people filling up in Belgium instead of Ireland the Department of Finance will consider a change in this regard. It is also important to point out that while transport companies and hauliers lose money and many are in severe debt nobody in business is losing €15 billion a year and has debts of €160 billion. The Government does, so any action it takes must be revenue neutral at the very least.

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