Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has not said whether he has approached the competition authority. If this matter is purely one of competition, I would expect the competition authority to be interested in it were it referred by the Deputy and others. I go back to what I said about the budget. There are a lot of young people, as the Deputy knows, who could find very good and well-paid employment in the haulage industry, particularly given the fact that the measures introduced by the Minister for Finance in the budget have made the situation for Irish hauliers far more competitive through the reduction in the tax and licence rates. As an economy, we are now poised to have very significant further economic growth. Much of that growth will have to be served by the road haulage industry. Therefore, the Government, through the Department of Education and Skills, has put in place a plan with the haulage industry to provide apprenticeships for this occupation.

See this speech in context