Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the provisions in the Finance Bill and in the limited time I have available to me to speak, I want to deal with the challenges faced by the road haulage industry. This critical industry for our State is facing the double-double whammy of the pandemic, Brexit, driver shortages and soaring fuel prices. During the pandemic, the haulage sector provided a Rolls-Royce service to our cities, towns and villages. It kept our exporters happy and our supermarkets busy. Despite the challenges, homes were well stocked throughout the country and there were very little or no CRSS or PUP payments made to anyone involved in the road haulage industry. It also had to deal with the detrimental impacts and fallout from Brexit and all of the delays and rerouting that has involved.

At the same time the industry is facing a shortage of qualified drivers, but the major issue facing the haulage industry and the tour bus sector is the rising cost of diesel. There is a diesel rebate scheme of a small amount which is repaid to transport operators, but this has maxed out at 7.5 cent in the previous quarter while prices have continued to soar and a further increase in the carbon tax was added in budget 2022. The road haulage industry needs this limit to be abolished so that repayment can continue to keep pace with the rising retail price of diesel.

The carbon tax is a green tax, but at the moment there is no viable alternative to the use of diesel, and even cleaner additives such as AdBlue have doubled and are expected to treble in price in the near future. The increased carbon tax is a stick to beat the road haulage sector and is expected to cost the industry €200,000 per day or €73 million in a full year. This, along with the excise and duty of 48 cent per litre, costs the sector €720,000 per day or €262 million in a full year.

We need to bring this vital sector with us but where are the carrots to allow the industry to modernise its fleet to the highest viable environmental standards such as Euro 6? The Minister should remove the cap on this rebate as an amendment to this Bill as a first step before the Government completes negotiations with the entire sector on the ten-year strategy for the road haulage sector.

I am led to believe that people in the sector have many valid ideas that would greatly reduce its carbon emissions. The rate of rebate is 19.1 cent per litre in France and 27 cent in Belgium, whereas the maximum here is 7.5 cent. To remove this cap would cost only a fraction of the increased revenue raised from the sector in the coming year and would be a welcome incentive to ensuring its viability following the many adverse conditions it has overcome in the past two years.

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