Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

It is good to be here to contribute to these statements on SMEs and, particularly, the road haulage sector. As has been said by many, the sector is the lifeblood of small industry and business across the country. Fleets of white vans deliver everything we know to shops around the country, from bread and milk right through. All those vans on the road mean jobs in every part of the country and they need support. All of them are under stress and strain with the spiralling costs of insurance and fuel, which are not being dealt with effectively by Government. Then we see ever-increasing tolls on the toll roads which they have no option but to use. For the transport sector, those toll increases are even higher than for people using their cars.

We have serious problems getting staff to carry out these roles. More and more haulage companies are having trouble finding drivers and other staff. The training programmes outlined by the Minister are all well and good but do not deliver the levels of competent workers the sector needs or anything near it. Many of them have to try to get workers from abroad. I have dealt with many, even small hauliers, in my part of the country who bring people in from outside the European Union. A man last week told me he had brought somebody in from Zimbabwe as a driver. First they had to get the permit to get into the country. Then they had to deal with the licence exchange, and that can take weeks and weeks. Then they had to get a PPS number. The final thing they had to get was a visa to go to the Continent and the Schengen Area. There are huge delays in all these things.

The portal for applying for visas is clogged up, slow and not delivering for people. There is huge frustration among many people in this sector who want to employ people and have workers prepared to do the work but when they try to bring them into the system, they find there are walls built in front of them. It would not cost anything to streamline all that and make it happen quickly, effectively and efficiently for people.

Many workers do not want to stay in the sector because there are other employment opportunities. That creates its own difficulties. There are very long hours sometimes. There are many complications with regulations around moving in and out of different jurisdictions, particularly with the new tachograph instruments brought in recently. Government needs to support the industry to develop new efficiencies, particularly regarding carbon and moving away from diesel. Those are big costs that small businesses cannot afford unless they get support from Government. Government needs to step up to the plate when it comes to supporting small businesses across the country, particularly the haulage sector.

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