Road hauliers may launch protests over toll roads

HAULIERS may be about to embark on a series of nationwide protests in response to price hikes in road tolls in the last two years.

At the annual Irish Road Hauliers Association (IRHA) conference in Bunratty, Co Clare today, delegates are expected to vote on a motion tabled by the IRHA’s Dublin branch calling for the protests.

IRHA president Eamon Morrissey said yesterday: “The continuing talk of more road tolls around the country just serves to incense us. Our industry just can’t absorb these costs.”

With three routes already tolled on the east coast, the National Roads Authority (NRA) has recently unveiled a draft toll scheme that will put a road toll in the west of Ireland for drivers seeking to access the proposed €100 million tunnel under the River Shannon in Limerick.

Mr Morrissey said: “We are being taxed out of existence. Road tolls place an added cost on an industry that is not profitable.”

Director of Communications with the IRHA, Jimmy Quinn, said yesterday:

“Hauliers believe that enough is already paid by them through road tax and imposing roads tolls is not justified.”

Mr Morrissey said there is frustration in the industry over the lack of action by the Transport Department in safeguarding it from the threat it faces from illegal haulage and rising costs.

“Last year, delegates were promised a wide range of initiatives by Minister for State Jim McDaid none of which have been followed through on despite intense lobbying.

“Because of the Government’s inaction, the black economy and unlicensed hauliers are flourishing. We were promised a traffic corps and a system of checks that would be put in place for unlicensed trucks and neither of those initiatives have taken place,” said Mr Morrissey.

“This country runs on the wheels of its trucks and yet we are supposed to continue running businesses that are barely profitable while the Government does absolutely nothing to protect us from those operating illegally in the industry,” he said.

Citing an industry report, which states that 80% of transport operators are running at a loss, Mr Morrissey added:

“Some of our members are in a desperate situation and feel let down by this Government.”