Exporters seeks talks with Govt on truckers strike

Exporters are calling on the Government to arrange high-level talks to prevent a nationwide protest by lorry drivers.

The Irish Road Haulage Association is threatening to mount a countrywide strike on June 27 to highlight the threat posed to their livelihoods by spiralling fuel costs.

They say they are bearing the brunt of high diesel prices and want exporters to share the burden.

The Irish Exporters Association agrees that the situation has reached crisis point, but says talks rather than protests are the way to address the problem.

It says it will be seeking an early meeting involving exporters, hauliers and Government ministers to find solutions to the crisis.

A spokesman for the Minister for Finance, meanwhile, said today that rising fuel prices were an international phenomenon and were determined by the market.

He said the IRHA had yet to make any formal approach to the minister seeking a meeting.