Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We can have the interdepartmental reports and investigations and I welcome them, but it is blatantly obvious that there is not a level playing field. We will have to do something about road tax and we will have to go back more robustly to the Northern Ireland authorities and Westminster to deal with this new levy. There is a channel, or a passage, from Donegal and there could be an exemption for it. Other countries have been able to get exemptions. A Prime Minister of a particular country this morning stated that he was not going to implement a European decision made yesterday. Why do we have to be the good boys and implement everything?

The road haulage industry is not viable for hauliers. By way of comparison, road tax costs €3,500 on average for a vehicle per year. It is only £640 sterling in Northern Ireland and England. That is not a level playing field. The Minister is saying the number of vehicles has increased. I welcome that fact but we must recognise the effort, employment and business initiatives of private hauliers and the sheer skill they have put into developing their businesses. This levy undermines them totally and the Minister knows it. Unless the report is finalised and taken seriously, it will be no good resting on a shelf. We need action here and we need action on the road tax as well.

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