Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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242. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the mitigations that are being considered to reduce costs for the haulage industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39239/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Ukraine crisis – and matters arising from it – continue to adversely affect European and Global oil markets, causing a sustained increase in the price of crude and in the price of refined products on the retail market.

Increasing costs is not limited to a specific sector and we are now seeing the development of a much broader issue of rising costs impacting across many sectors and affecting society in general.

In recognition of the important role that the haulage sector plays in maintaining a fully functioning supply chain and supporting our economy, the Government approved specific financial support for the sector via the Licensed Haulage Emergency Support Scheme (the Scheme) in March 2022. 

The Scheme provided a temporary financial support of €100 per week, for eight weeks, for each eligible heavy goods vehicle authorised on the licence of a road haulage operator as of 11 March 2022. It was administered by the Department of Transport, and it is now closed. There was good uptake of the Scheme, with over €15 million paid out to nearly 3,000 operators.

In addition, the Diesel Rebate Scheme (DRS) remains available to licensed haulage operators in respect of vehicles over 7.5 tonnes. At diesel prices over €1.43 (including VAT), the maximum rebate of 7.5 cent per litre is provided. It has always been the case that some operators that are eligible for the DRS do not take it up. The Department would strongly encourage all such operators to make the most of the supports that are available.  

Furthermore, tax debt “warehoused” during the COVID crisis remains at an interest rate of 0% for the remainder of this year.

More generally, the Government has also acted to offset the rising cost of fuel through a reduction in Excise on fuels - a reduction of 20 cent on petrol and 15 cent on diesel fuel. While this measure (announced in early March 2022) was originally proposed to last until 31 August 2022 the Government has extended it out to Budget Day 2022. This measure provides assistance to all citizens and businesses to help mitigate the impact of recent fuel price increases. 

However, it should be noted that the causes of the current fuel price pressures are not within the control of Government and are being directly influenced by external factors, including the Ukraine crisis. Unfortunately, we must accept that it will not be possible to fully insulate citizens and businesses from the impact of these fuel price increases.

Since early March with the benefit of the excise reduction, 8 weeks support under the Licensed Haulage Support Scheme and the ongoing Diesel Rebate relief, haulage businesses will have had the opportunity to revise and renegotiate contracts with their clients in order to reflect increased prices, as is an unfortunate reality in all sectors across the economy. 

The Government has limited resources but through the Excise measure, as well as the Licensed Haulage Emergency Support Scheme, it has responded to help to ease the impact of these price increases.