Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, on whose behalf I am closing this debate, for outlining the detail of the road transporters support scheme to the House. This scheme is vital to support our overall economy and trade. It is vital to support the businesses that will receive support under the scheme. That is essential when it comes to ensuring continuity and stability throughout the supply chain. I also thank all of the Deputies who contributed to today's discussion. It was a good discussion, and I appreciate the different perspectives that were put on the record and the perspectives of many people working in the industry that were put on the record by Deputies. It is a clear indication that everyone in this House values our hauliers and our bus and coach operators and the role they play in wider society, as they should. After all, these are the people who keep our country moving, who keep our shelves stacked, who bring others to and from work or school and who create jobs in their small, medium and large companies. They are the people we depend on when it comes to certain sectors being successful, like the retail sector and the tourism sector. We are dependent on them for many of the services we provide, like our healthcare sector, disability services or local authority services. The bottom line is that these people are vital to the functioning of both society and the economy.

As mentioned earlier, these sectors have faced multiple challenges in recent years, including Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, fuel cost increases that immediately followed the invasion of Ukraine and the multiple severe weather events that have resulted in increased disruption at our ports and across the wider transport network. I start by acknowledging the resilience of the sector and I thank the people working there for working with the Minister, Ministers of State and officials in the Department of Transport to find solutions to the challenges we know exist.

The support package has been carefully considered following ongoing engagement between the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, the Minister for State at the Department of Transport with responsibility for international road transport logistics, rail and ports, Deputy Canney, and officials in the Department of Transport with haulage and passenger representative bodies over many months. The scheme reflects the immediate need for financial support and the needs communicated by the sector over many engagements. It demonstrates that the Government is listening to the needs of the sector. I thank everybody involved in those discussions, particularly the Irish Road Haulage Association. As the Minister mentioned in his opening remarks, over 246,000 people are working across a variety of logistics and supply chain roles, including almost 60,000 people in the transport sector.

While I am sure Deputies will agree that financial supports are necessary right now, I reiterate, as many Deputies did in their contributions, that this Government also recognises the need to support the haulage, logistics and supply chain sector in the longer term. It is important to address long-standing challenges such as driver shortages and to work with the sector on its transition to decarbonisation. In December 2022 the Government published Ireland's road haulage strategy, which runs from 2022 to 2031. It followed two phases of public consultation. That strategy highlights the importance of the haulage and road freight sector. It identified 39 actions as short-term priorities that are expected to be completed within a two- or three-year timeframe, and enablers for medium- to long-term progress that will ensure the delivery of policy objectives over the full term of the strategy. The implementation of the short-term actions has progressed well since publication and three annual progress reports have been published so far. A key action identified in the road haulage strategy was to establish a road freight forum with representatives from the relevant Government Departments and agencies and the haulage, freight, distribution and logistics sector. That road freight forum held its first meeting in February 2023. It is chaired by the Department of Transport and its membership includes the National Transport Authority, the Road Safety Authority, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the Freight Transport Association, the Irish Road Haulage Association, the Irish International Freight Association and the Irish Exporters Association. That forum formalises engagement between key stakeholders and builds on the work done in response to the international crises we mentioned earlier. It supports collaboration, which is key to identifying practical and effective solutions to support the sector to maintain Ireland's essential trade and strategic supply chains. It also monitors the implementation of the road haulage strategy and that provides an opportunity for stakeholders to identify emerging challenges at the earliest opportunity.

The logistics and supply chain skills group was established in 2019 to support the promotion of careers, skill development and sustainable employment in the logistics and supply chain sectors in Ireland. This group has been making good progress to address systematic challenges with support from officials in the Department of Transport. In 2023 the group organised Ireland's first logistics and supply chain skills week to promote careers in the sector and to engage with supply chain executives on the new skills needed now and into the future. This has become an annual event, and this is year nine in terms of in-person events that have been held this year, as well as three international and five national webinars and a sustainability competition for third level students that took place this earlier month. In addition, LogisTYcs is a flagship skills expo under the logistics and supply chain skills week and was held in the past couple of weeks in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, mentioned to me earlier that he was there and met 1,500 students as well as educators, employers and industry bodies. It is an opportunity for them to learn more about career and education options within the sector. Both the road freight forum and the logistics and supply chain skills group provide an excellent platform for structured engagement between policymakers and key sectoral stakeholders. Officials in the Department of Transport want to continue this spirit of collaboration to assist the sector to achieve the goals set out in the road haulage strategy and the actions identified by the sector in the logistics and supply chain skills group action plan. That is ongoing collaboration and is in addition to the commitment given by the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, to engage with the representative bodies over the coming months.

I recognise the efforts being made to improve current processes and build a resilient and skilled workforce equipped to meet the future needs of the sector. Recent cost pressures born of the conflict in Iran have highlighted the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels in the transport sector. The road haulage strategy provides a roadmap for how the sector can decarbonise to meet the targets set out in the climate action plan. I am going to digress from the script because I do not agree with the next sentence, so I am sure I will be killed by officials. It states here that the haulage sector is almost exclusively fuelled by diesel. That is not necessarily true. I know many operators in this sector who have utilised HVO, and Deputy Lahart mentioned that earlier. It is important that we recognise the contribution they are making to the environment by making the decision to move to HVO. I appreciate that more needs to be done in this area. However, Deputies will agree that decarbonisation will be a significant challenge for the sector over the medium term to 2030 and beyond. Several targeted supports have been provided in recent years to assist the sector on its journey to zero emissions. The zero emissions heavy duty vehicle purchase grant scheme supports the purchase of zero emission vehicles and associated charging infrastructure. HDV Electrification Pathway: Navigating the Path to Heavy Duty Electrification in Ireland is a report published on 3 March 2026. It identifies the key enablers to accelerate HDV electrification and that is really important. I agree, as was mentioned today, that we also need to support the transition to HVO and to support those who have already made that transition. The fleet assessment audit offers businesses an assessment by an independent energy adviser who will provide guidance on transition to zero emission vehicles. Two tax incentive schemes allow operators to reduce their immediate tax bill against company profits when investing in zero emission vehicles and they are already in place.

I recognise that not all businesses can afford to invest in zero emission vehicles even when they avail of grant funding. However, eco driving techniques can help drivers to reduce their fuel and emissions in their existing vehicles while enhancing road safety for all road users. A national standard for eco driving courses has been established and a range of subsidised or fully funded eco driving training courses are also available to HDV drivers. The promotion of both digital and operational efficiencies such as load sharing and logistics consolidation hubs are also being explored by the Department of Transport. Despite the cost of zero emission vehicles posing an ongoing challenge for some, the number of electric HGVs in the fleet is increasing, with 162 electric HGVs registered at the end of last year. The number of compressed natural gas fuelled vehicles rose to 157 last year and that was a 5% increase on the year before.

Energy consumption from renewable resources such as liquid biofuel and biogases which are often used to power heavy goods vehicles continued to grow as well. It has increased from 64 kilotonnes of oil to 78 kilotonnes.

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