The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) is seeking a crisis meeting with Enterprise Minister Batt O’Keeffe to highlight flaws in the government’s bio-fuels policy.
The Association has claimed that fuel suppliers have hijacked the Government’s Bio-fuels Obligation Scheme to increase prices, which it says will hit hauliers by as much as €50,000 per annum.
The scheme, which came into effect on July 1st, requires companies supplying fuel to the Irish market to ensure that the transport fuel they sell each year includes an overall mix of 4% bio-fuel.
The policy, according to the IRHA, has led to increased fuel prices as suppliers pass on the cost of putting the necessary infrastructure in place to supply fuel products, which comply with the new legislation.
“The Government has scored a spectacular own goal and hauliers throughout the country are paying the price,” said Vincent Caulfield, President of the Irish Road Haulage Association.
“The scheme has failed to reduce fuel costs and the Government has failed to respond to the reality that fuel suppliers have been given a free hand to set whatever price they choose,” he added.
“Increases already vary between 0.8 cent and 1.12 cent per litre. A price increase of 1.4 cent per litre adds €50,000 to the operating costs of a haulier with 40 trucks and that cost is simply not recoupable given all of the economic challenges currently facing hauliers,” he continued.
The Association is calling upon the Government to examine the impact of the scheme on the haulage industry and to investigate fuel suppliers in light of the varying price increases they have imposed.
“The Government has sat idly by as haulage businesses struggle to respond to increased operating costs. We have taken enough. It is time the Government took action to protect jobs rather than introducing a succession of policies which undermine the survival of haulage businesses,” Mr Caulfield concluded.
