Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will respond briefly as I do not wish to intrude on Senator MacSharry's territory. The Minister of State's comments on coach tour operators are very important. For a long time, we had in place a Bord Fáilte certification regime and the side of tour coaches featured a shamrock. I gather this part of the Irish tourism sector did not contract when many other parts of the sector declined. People believed that having people travel around the country in buses was a strange form of tourism and asked whether individualism was not about to take over. The coach tour operators have done well under the legislation. I note the Minister of State's comments in that regard.

On the freight side, the choice facing a firm is to do this work itself or hire in a haulage company. In the past, almost all transport was own account, for example, the breweries had their own transport fleet. Up to 83% of transport was done by companies internally and hired haulage was deliberately restricted in an attempt to shift traffic to the railways which did not work. The former Minister, Mr. Peter Barry, opened up competition in 1998 and I understand the percentages have changed, with hired haulage companies have a market share of roughly 70%. The measure will still distort competition, depending on whether a firm undertakes its own transport operations or avails of a concession that is only available to licensed operators. This may give rise to a competitive element.

I appreciate the Minister of State's comments on the general shortage of money and difficulties of enforcement. At least licensed hauliers are in the licensing system and there is a strong quality element involved. Approximately one third of freight movements will not benefit from the measure given that companies providing their own freight transport account for 30% of the transport market. Those are my thoughts on the matter.

As Senators have stated, will the dairies have in-house fleets. They could easily obtain licences because they have high standards of vehicles and should qualify. The result could be that the hired haulage share of the market will increase to beyond 70% as companies seek to qualify for the scheme. Firms may continue to reduce in-house transport fleets to qualify for the assistance available under this measure.