Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)

-----the road. The facts are that two more swipes are catching the mirrors of the buses going to school, plus the trucks. That is the reality of it. The quality of roads is a problem.

The reality for truck drivers at the moment is they buy a truck and pay €46,000 in VAT. They pay 23% VAT for every drop of diesel they have and 19 cent of every litre is carbon tax, which is another tax. If they need a trailer, there is a tax. There is VAT on tyres and another tax to get rid of tyres. I have covered carbon tax. Looking at the amount of tax, and they talk about "keep her lit" and "keep on trucking", I will tell you one thing: I do not know how the exhaust is even going with the amount of money that has to be paid on one lorry in tax.

There is another problem we have allowed in this country. People are coming in from eastern bloc countries and are cutting the daylights out of it. They have a different rate for their drivers, tyres, insurance and every part of the truck you have to do. They are cutting the daylights out of our hauliers here. If you try to get someone to even drive a lorry, it costs between €5,000 and €7,000 for them to get their test, do their certificate of professional competence, CPC, and go right through the whole lot. We are driving youngsters away from going near trucking.

On the environment, I acknowledge a rebate is there at the moment, but for HVO, which would cut emissions by 90%, although it is dearer fuel, there is no rebate. People talk about COP30, COP40 or whatever they want to talk about, but in actual fact they are not interested. If the Government wanted to do something, it would give a rebate on the likes of HVO.

We need to look at the way lorry drivers, hauliers and people who own lorries are being treated in this country. Also, auto-enrolment is coming in January, and while it is one of these things that has to be done for workers, it will cause a problem for small two- and three-person businesses. Let us be honest about it. I have talked to a number of people who say this will be a problem in the industry. I will ask one thing. How come, when we go to London or France with a truck, we are screwed in each place by the €10 or €20 that has be paid ahead of that truck? Eastern bloc lorry drivers or lorry owners are coming across here, cutting the daylights out of it and they are not hit like our guys are hit when they go out of the country.

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