Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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154. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will restructure commercial vehicle road tax in line with comparable costs in Northern Ireland in order to save jobs in the haulage sector here as Irish hauliers pay €4,000 per annum per truck for a six-axle articulated vehicle whereas in the North they pay £640 per truck and an Irish haulage operator must also contribute £10 per day per vehicle to access Northern Ireland on routes that had no charge prior to 1 April 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32446/15]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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An Interdepartmental Group has carried out a review of the current commercial motor tax regime and consulted with hauliers and other stakeholders.  The report is being submitted to me and to the Ministers for Finance and for the Environment, Community and Local Government, for joint consideration.  Once agreement is reached, I hope to announce a new, fairer, basis for calculating commercial motor tax. 

As an interim measure to reduce the commercial motor tax burden on Heavy Goods Vehicles the Minister for Finance committed in November 2014 to reducing the motor tax rates for HGVs of 12 tonnes plus in Budget 2016, with a tapering of the reduction for vehicles below 12 tonnes.

This Government has recognised the challenges facing the sector and announced the fuel duty rebate for hauliers in 2013, which could result in savings of up to €70million per annum for the haulage sector.

The UK HGV road user levy was introduced in 2014.  This Government lobbied actively against the application of the charge to Northern Ireland, in co-operation with Stormont Ministers.  Unfortunately the UK Minister for Transport chose to give only very minor exemptions to Northern Ireland from the road user charge.  However few Irish hauliers are paying £10 per day to access UK roads.  The UK charge is a sliding scale, with rates ranging from £1.70 to £10 per day, or £85 to £1,000 per annum, depending on vehicle type and weight.