Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will continue to engage, as I have done since I came into this role, with the sector to ensure we protect it. I will also work with my Government colleagues, given this is not just a transport issue. For example, the Minister for Finance sets policy in respect of tax and excise duties on fuel and the only increase this year was the planned carbon tax increase. I will engage with them in respect of that ten-year haulage strategy, which is the vision. We need to set out that long-term plan as well as working on what I outlined earlier as the immediate concerns for the sector, namely, ensuring there is a robust supply chain and that we have the skillset, working with our educational centres, whether through skills for HGV drivers or research in the area of reducing emissions, and ensuring we have vehicles and the technology available.

Some of the strategies are more for the long term. We are working on short, medium and long-term approaches. I share the Deputy's frustration and understand people's questions about the ambition to tackle these issues. This is a global challenge and we must rise to that challenge and work with sectors to ensure our approach is fair and achievable.

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