Today, the European Parliament had an opportunity to adopt a position on transport legislation that would have helped to protect the road haulage industry, those who work in it and the very many exporters who rely on it in Ireland.
This was stated by Independent Irish MEP Marian Harkin following a vote on this issue in the European Parliament. She said: “Unfortunately this did not happen and we now face the real prospect of a very damaging European Parliament position on the Cross-Border road haulage sector.”
“In Ireland there are 3,500 registered road hauliers and the typical haulage business has on average four trucks in operation. 50,000 jobs depend directly or indirectly on the road haulage sector. Well over 80% of Irish exports to the European Continent are transported by road hauliers and a crucial element in our attractiveness for Foreign Direct Investment is that we can guarantee exports to mainland EU in a timely and cost effective manner. Another extremely important issue is that many of these jobs are based in rural Ireland and our agri-food business depends significantly on our road haulage service.”
“With the threat of Brexit looming as well as a possible trade war with the USA, it is absolutely essential that our trade with the EU can continue in a cost effective way and without mountains of bureaucracy. Today’s vote is at best a threat to our ability to access EU markets and no effort must be spared in the coming month to ensure a positive outcome for the Irish road haulage sector,” concluded Marian.