Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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587. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Question No. 267 of 9 October 2014, if he has any further updates following his instruction to his officials to explore options with their UK and Northern Ireland colleagues to mitigate the effect of the levy on Irish hauliers; his plans to introduce a similar road levy charge here; if not, the reasons for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45322/14]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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As I have previously stated, the UK HGV road user levy is an unwelcome development, especially in its effect on Irish hauliers operating in the Border region.  The UK authorities have rejected all requests to have significant sections of the Northern Ireland roads infrastructure exempted from the levy and have agreed to exclude only approximately 7 km of roads that criss-cross the Border.  With regard to mitigating the effect of the UK levy, I have recently met with the Minister for Finance and representatives of the road haulage sector to discuss the impact of the levy and other charges on Irish hauliers.  I am pleased to report that the Minister for Finance has committed to reducing road tax on HGVs of over 12 tonnes, with a tapering of the reduction for vehicles below that weight, starting in next year’s budget.  

In relation to the introduction of a pay-as-you-go road user levy charge in Ireland, this is one of the issues being examined by my Department through the cross-Departmental Group on HGV Road Charging.  The Group will issue a consultation paper on potential reform of the commercial vehicle motor tax system to stakeholders by the end of November 2014.  On completion of the consultation process, the Group will submit a report with its recommendations to the Ministers of Transport, Environment and Finance for their consideration.