Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That suggestion certainly violates the Single European Act so I cannot consider something that is unlawful. Cabotage is wrong. We are supposed to have a free market and the free movement of goods and services across the European Union. If it were up to me, I would get rid of cabotage rules altogether. The European Commission is also in favour of doing that provided we have similar safety and social standards across the European Union. It should and could be done but, unfortunately, some of large member states take a protectionist view of this and do not want other countries' hauliers operating in their domestic markets. One difficulty in finding a solution is that it is not possible to have a special arrangement between Ireland and the UK. That would run against European treaties. There can be special arrangements between two or three countries, like Benelux, but only if they predate European treaties. Any concession the UK authorities grant to Ireland, or vice versa, must be granted to every country in the EU, including Romania and Portugal.

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