Darren O'Rourke (Meath East, Sinn Fein)
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109. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if his attention has been drawn to the challenges in the bus and haulage sectors in terms of rising costs and difficulty to recruit staff; the measures he plans to take to address these issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44095/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Covid pandemic has impacted transport operators across all transport modes and has also had a huge impact across the labour market. Both bus and haulage operators have been impacted.

Rising costs are an issue across the economy. On 9 September the CSO published the CPI figures for August 2021. Prices on average, as measured by the CPI, were 2.8% higher in August 2021 compared with August 2020. This is the largest annual change in prices in almost 10 years.

The largest increase in the year could be seen in Transport (+10.2%) mainly caused by higher prices for petrol, diesel and motor cars, an increase in airfares and a rise in the cost of services in respect of personal transport equipment.

Recruitment difficulties in the bus sector have only recently been highlighted to my Department as some operators have commenced campaigns to recruit new drivers.

I am well aware of the growing problem of driver shortages in the road haulage industry and a lot is already being done to help address the problem. In July I asked the National Logistics and Supply Chain Skills Group, which is chaired by my Department, to examine the issue and to make recommendations as a matter of urgency. All relevant Departments and agencies, as well as the haulage and logistics sector, are represented on the Group.  I expect to receive their report by the end of the month.

Current actions and potential future actions to tackle the issue include:

- promoting the profession and the training available in order to increase the numbers qualifying as HGV drivers in Ireland,

- improving the profession as a fulfilling life long career,

- increasing the number of non-EU/EEA countries with which Ireland has entered into HGV driver licence exchange agreements, to allow drivers from these countries to apply for Irish employment permits,

- helping Irish employers to recruit  drivers from overseas.