Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The national HGV fleet of articulated trucks is made up of 24,000 vehicles responsible for 86% of the movement of goods for the Irish economy to function. It does 1.9 billion km per year, as per CSO figures. This equates to over 5 million km travelled per day and over 1.5 million l of fuel consumed per day.

This works out at almost 500 l per truck per week, which supports the statement that a truck burns in one week what a house will burn in one year. There are 10,800 trucks in this country that are more than ten years old. To upgrade these vehicles to a Euro 6 engine would cost only €108 million, not €8 billion. Fuel rebates could be tied in as an incentive.

Last year, 330,000 new trucks were sold in Europe. That confirms that the only way of moving our goods in Europe is by truck. Let us incentivise the use of trucks, bring in Euro 6 engines and reduce our emissions. It is common sense.

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