'We are suffering and in need of some sort of action' - Leitrim haulier

Fuel prices have risen above €2 per litre in many forecourts across the country and a protest scheduled for Tuesday, March 10 was called off by hauliers to allow for talks to take place between Mr O’Brien and IRHA president Ger Hyland.

Leitrim man Gearoid Gilheany, transport manager for a large fleet of haulage trucks, said he believes to avoid a protest, there will need to be "some recognition from the government that there is a crisis and that they have to help out not just private individuals but businesses as well."

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He added: "Passing the surcharge to our customers who then have to pass it on to the consumer is going to create inflationary pressures and the government can alleviate that if they come to an agreement with the hauliers."

He said that a one-day protest may "show to the public that we are suffering and in need of some sort of action from the government. Diesel in Ireland is the highest taxed of anywhere in Europe and what they do with those taxes is the other question. I believe the mood of hauliers is that they will go ahead with the protest if they don't get something."

He said that hauliers are "under pressure and doing what we can to alleviate that pressure. Some of our customers, since covid, have haulage fuel escalators in place. Some people do not have that in place and I know that companies have gone to the wall the last time because the people they worked for, particularly the supermarkets - if it's not in the contract, they won't pay any more."

He continued: "The rise in carbon tax that is coming in April is in heating oil; there has already been a rise in carbon tax for diesel and petrol at the Budget last Autumn. The majority of carbon tax is being taken off the haulage industry and yet there is nothing, that I am aware of, going back into the haulage industry. In Europe, there is a lot of money being invested in providing charging stations for electric trucks etc. As far as I'm aware, there are only a small number of electric trucks in Ireland."

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He said that the aim of the tax is to discourage people from consuming carbon-emitting fuel and encourage them to waste less energy or move to more green-friendly fuels. "However, we haven't had any return from the carbon tax they've taken to do that. From the haulage industries point of view, it feels like they are taking, taking, taking but not giving anything to us."

He concluded: "The feeling out there is that they are milking the haulage industry and the buses. The busman are even worse because they don't get the VAT back on their fuel and a lot have fixed contracts with CIE."