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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 13 and 29 together.

As the House was informed at the last Question Time, there have been considerable discussions held with my UK and Northern Ireland counterparts on this issue. This issue has been raised by the Taoiseach with Prime Minister David Cameron and it has also been discussed by the North-South Ministerial Council.

As the Deputies know, this is a decision that rests with central government in London in the United Kingdom. Arising from the representations and discussions to date, approximately 7 km of roads that criss-cross the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic have been exempted from the levy. However, recent correspondence from the UK Minister has indicated that he is not inclined to make provision for the exemption of further Northern Ireland roads from the levy.

While it is accepted that the UK Government is within its rights under EU legislation to introduce the levy, the Irish Government is unhappy with the UK authorities' position on the exemption of the A5. I will request that they reconsider this decision. For a successful resolution to this issue, we need unity of purpose between the Irish Government and the Northern Irish Executive. In that regard, I am supported by my colleague in the Northern Ireland Executive, Minister Mark Durkan. However, I was disappointed by the partisan approach taken by some other parties in the Northern Irish Assembly when this was debated there on Monday. As a result of that, the Northern Ireland Assembly voted against our desired position on this matter. The contributions in the debate would drive one to distraction in many ways. The speakers were more concerned with the forthcoming elections than ensuring all-party support to get the A5 exempted.

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 precedence in Europe with the Eurovignette for a common road charging regime to be established, where only one charge is applied but where payers can use a number of different countries' roads. We should look to this example and seek to establish a common regime between Britain and Ireland.  While there are a large number of issues surrounding this and while it requires the support of the British Government, a common regime may have merit given our circumstances.  Therefore, my officials have begun tentative discussions with their British counterparts on this potential long-term solution.  A common regime would be of benefit to hauliers in the North and South, and it would also result in benefits between Britain and Ireland, as opposed to two different regimes that would impose significant regulatory burdens on hauliers.

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