Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy may be aware, the current rules on road user charges for heavy goods vehicles are set out in the 1999 Eurovignette directive on charging HGVs for the use of infrastructure. The directive sets out an EU framework for the levying of road charges on HGVs. It authorises member states, if they so wish, to levy user charges. Time-based charges can be imposed per day, week or year, and distance-based charges can be levied in the same way as road tolls. The objective of this framework is to encourage member states to use taxation and transport infrastructure charging in the most effective and fair manner to promote the user pays and polluter pays principles, which are enshrined in various EU treaties. Road charging ensures users contribute to the costs of maintaining the infrastructure. It can also be a source of revenue to help to develop new infrastructure and cleaner and more efficient modes of transport.

The UK Government announced plans to introduce a HGV road user charging scheme on 25 January 2012. At that time, the UK authorities pointed out that no charges were paid for any of the approximately 1.5 million trips to the UK made by foreign-registered HGVs each year. The object of the new levy is to provide that all HGVs, regardless of origin, that use UK roads will contribute to their cost. The levy, which was introduced by the HGV Road User Levy Act 2013, came into effect on 1 April last. The Deputy will know that while the levy applies to roads in Northern Ireland, the decision to introduce it rests with central government in the UK.

The Irish Government accepts that the UK Government is within its rights under EU legislation to introduce the levy. We have made representations to the UK authorities on numerous occasions. We have held a number of discussions with them with the aim of having certain significant sections of the Northern Ireland roads infrastructure treated as a special circumstance and exempted from the levy. As it is not possible under EU law to have an exemption that applies to just one member state, such an exemption would apply to all road users. Approximately 7 km of roads that criss-cross the Border between Northern Ireland and the Republic have been exempted from the levy to date. Despite robust representations on our part, the UK Minister has indicated in recent correspondence that he is not inclined to make provision for the exemption of additional Northern Ireland roads. The Irish Government is very unhappy with this position. The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, who is responsible for this area, intends to ask the UK Minister to reconsider his decision. If we are to achieve a successful resolution to this issue, we need unity of purpose between the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive. We are supported in this endeavour by our colleague, Mark Durkan, who is the Northern Ireland Minister of the Environment.

The Deputy might be aware that a working group has been established to examine the feasibility of introducing a similar pay as you go road tax scheme for HGVs in Ireland. There is a precedent for this in Europe. The Eurovignette directive allows a common road charging regime to be established where only one charge is applied and where those paying can use roads in a number of different countries. We should look to this example in seeking to establish a common road charging regime between the UK and Ireland. While there are many issues surrounding this - for example, it requires the support of the UK Government - a common regime could have some merit in light of our unique circumstances. The Minister, Deputy Varadkar, and his officials have begun initial discussions with their UK counterparts on this potential long-term solution. A common regime would be of more benefit to hauliers on either side of the Border than two different regimes that impose significant regulatory burdens on them.

The new levy imposes additional operating costs on Irish hauliers using Northern Ireland and UK roads. The prospect has been raised of some Irish haulage operators relocating their business to other jurisdictions, possibly taking associated jobs with them. There is no evidence that a significant number of operators are electing to do this. Operators who are willing to deal with the costs and regulatory requirements of becoming established and licensed in another jurisdiction are free to relocate if they wish to do so. Those who do will be subject to the cabotage regulations that apply to out-of-State operators with regard to their transport operations in Ireland, which will consequently be greatly restricted by regulations.

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