Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

The maximum fine is €500,000. I cannot see anybody being fined that amount. The current penalty for this offence is only €1,905 which is very low considering the savings that can be made by a person using unscrupulous or illegal operators. The intention of this provision is not to catch people out but to allow us to prosecute customers who willingly and knowingly hire illegal operators. This is a significant problem in the road haulage industry at present and the industry has lobbied for a change, taking the view, probably rightly, that customers who knowingly hire an unlicensed operator are damaging legitimate business and are complicit in many ways in the offence, though tax evasion and, in some cases, evasion of safety regulations. This measure will only be employed if a person knowingly hires an unlicensed operator. It is not designed to catch people out who make an honest mistake nor does it require the average person or business to check that the person hired is licensed.