Action urged over cabotage

Irish authorities have barely policed the cabotage legislation which has resulted in haulage contracts worth millions of euro being illegally awarded to foreign haulage firms who pay no taxes in Ireland.

Figures obtained from the Road Safety Authority, which is responsible for the enforcement of the legislation along with the gardaí, reveal that from 2012 to July 2013, only 78 vehicles were checked in Ireland and only a single breach of the regulations was uncovered.

In comparison, the UK department of transport made 43,408 checks in relation to cabotage legislation last year, with 310 offences detected.