Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome steps which will make business a little easier for hauliers. In light of the efforts the Government has made in this regard, I am pleased to give credit where it is due. The lifting of tolls for hauliers in November will help make the year a little easier for haulage companies, many of which are barely scraping a living as a result of the ongoing recession and the rising cost of keeping vehicles on the road. The lifting of tolls will help local economies by freeing up regional and local roads and giving local people greater access to local businesses.

In his press statement on the initiative, the Minister expressed concern that large numbers of heavy goods vehicles, HGVs, continue to use regional and local roads to avoid tolls and are driving through towns, villages and rural areas. This practice, he continued, has safety implications for other road users, residents and pedestrians. In addition, by using local and regional roads instead of custom built motorways, HGVs are adding to the wear and tear of the legacy roads network, the statement noted. If safety and avoiding wear and tear are the reasons for removing tolls for heavy goods vehicle, one would find it difficult to find a more suitable route than the Fermoy bypass for inclusion in the scheme. The case for doing so has been well made by Deputy McLellan.

Members of the local community in Fermoy very much hope the initiative will be extended to include the M8. The Revive Fermoy group, in particular, believed the inclusion of the town bypass would be a useful exercise. The chairman of Fermoy Town Council's traffic management sub-committee, independent councillor Michael Hanley, was under the impression the scheme would be a national initiative and expressed disappointment at the exclusion from it of the Fermoy bypass. Local people also believe its inclusion would help in terms of assessing the value of using the motorway route versus traversing the town.

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