John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

There is no other sector that can point so accurately to the Government in terms of taxes and obstacles placed in the way of its development than road haulage couriers and the logistics business generally.

Let us look at what they are facing. Every year, they make their submissions. Generally speaking, they ask for improvements to the sector, for the load of regulation to be lightened and for red tape and costs to be cut. No government has really reached out to fulfil these requests. Naturally enough, the costs haulage and logistics companies face are passed directly on to the other SMEs that use these businesses or directly on to households that order from Amazon or some other company. We passed the pension plan. I have no issue with that but it adds a cost. The increase to the minimum wage adds a cost. I do not know how many taxes there are on diesel but I can say that it is now cheaper to buy diesel in the UK than here. We are strangling the development of that particular SME sector by increasing the cost of fuel, including diesel, every year. Extra holidays will be legislated for. That is another cost to carry. There are also warehouse rents, planning permission, general regulation to keep within the law, road tolls and so on. Surcharges on direct ferries represent another charge. Access to drivers is a huge issue.

In all of the time this has been debated and in all of the time reform has been asked for, it has never been delivered in a real and meaningful way. In their decisions, every government has undermined the possibility of delivering a real cost-effective solution to the logistical issues that companies and individuals face in their daily lives. As long as we continue to do that without consideration of the impact of taxes and regulation, we are going to continue to add costs for everybody who uses a courier or a haulage operator. The costs will just continue to rise.

I look at the briefing documents we received and I read the Irish Road Haulage Association position and the position of the European Union. None of it seems to take into consideration the fact that people put huge effort into the SME sector and into haulage and logistics and get very little profit out of it. There is no encouragement there. Then, when a crisis is reached and drivers are wanted, it is nearly impossible to get them into the State. I have been asking for a greater effort to be made to train HGV drivers and to encourage people to come into the area and work in the sector. That does not happen, however. As I have said, you cannot get the visas. It is the same with mechanics. It is all associated with road haulage and the business of logistics. You cannot get them. When you apply to bring someone in, whether a qualified mechanic or a specialist in the area, you are left waiting forever.

The Government has not streamlined its systems. It has not reached out to this sector, which carries a huge burden of cost put on it by the State. Every time we do anything in here, it increases the level of red tape and bureaucracy. Nobody seems to attempt to grapple with the reality of the cost of putting a truck on the road or of replacing it with one with a greener type of engine. We do not even look at the standard of diesel in Ireland. We are useless at it. I ask that the Minister of State take note of Government initiatives that could be taken to reduce the direct costs on the sector, which are then passed on to the consumer.

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