Hauliers will fight proposed fuel levy

HAULIERS have warned the government they will not stand for any special levy on fuel to pay for a massive shortfall in the national roads budget.

Consultants commissioned by the government to work out ways of making up the €5.8bn shortfall are reported to have proposed a levy of 5c a litre on fuel.

The recommendation, by KPMG, was immediately attacked by both the Automobile Association and the Irish Road Haulage Association.

President of the IRHA Sean Delaney said his members were already facing ruin because of insurance costs and would not allow the government to get away with introducing the special levy.

Mr Delaney said: "We will have a very big campaign to stop them doing it. With the insurance costs at the moment, we are only barely keeping our members on the road. No way will we put up with a price rise." Previous campaigns by hauliers involved road blockades creating massive tailbacks.

The IRHA president said an average sized haulier - with 10 trucks using 10,000 litres a week - would face an immediate rise of E500 a week in costs. He said the consultants who compiled the report did not speak with his organisation.

Transport Minister Seamus Brennan is expected to receive the final report soon but no early decision is expected. A draft copy of the report has already been forward to the department. The AA are coming out against any plans for an increase, claiming motorists already pay 3bn to the exchequer every year, through petrol duties, road tax and tolls.

Conor Faughnan, AA spokesman, said it was not clear whether the levy referred to both ordinary motorists and hauliers but added: "If you are prepared to rip off motorists, then you are going to have no moral objections to ripping hauliers off."