More than €45 million has now been paid to Irish transport operators under the Government’s €120 million Road Transporters Support Scheme (RTSS) – leaving a major question for the haulage industry: what happens to the remainder of the €120 million allocation?

The RTSS was introduced earlier this year as part of the Government’s response to soaring fuel costs and was presented as a €120 million support scheme for the road transport sector.

According to the latest figures provided by Transport Minister Darragh O’Brien, more than 4,400 applications were submitted to the scheme, with approximately 2,700 applicants having received payments.

More than €45 million has been paid directly to operators since payments commenced on 10 July.

A further €7 million is currently being processed, while another €6.9 million has been transferred to the Department of Education and Youth for payments to school transport providers.

Those figures mean that close to €59 million has either been paid, is being processed or has been transferred for school transport payments.

But even allowing for those commitments, there remains a substantial gap between the money accounted for so far and the headline €120 million figure attached to the scheme.

More than 1,000 applications required corrections

Part of the explanation lies in the processing of applications.

More than 20 per cent of RTSS applications contained errors or required additional information, according to the Minister.

Around 1,100 applicants were contacted during August and asked to provide corrected or additional details. Those operators were given until 12 noon on Monday, 7 September to respond.

The Department of Transport is now working through that information and checking applications against its records.

It is therefore reasonable to expect the amount paid under the RTSS to increase significantly as outstanding valid applications are cleared.

However, the figures still raise an important question for operators.

Will the full €120 million ultimately be distributed – and, if not, what happens to any money left over?

€120m was an allocation, not a guaranteed payout

There is an important distinction.

When the Government announced the RTSS, the €120 million represented the estimated cost of providing the support over three months.

The scheme initially covered March 2026, while payments for April and May were dependent on the national average diesel price exceeding €1.90 per litre.

Payments were also dependent on operators satisfying the eligibility requirements and having eligible vehicles.

Consequently, the €120 million headline figure should not necessarily be interpreted as €120 million that was guaranteed to be distributed to applicants.

Nevertheless, given the enormous financial pressure experienced by the Irish haulage sector during 2026, operators are entitled to greater clarity about the final expenditure under the scheme.

Appeals process will be crucial

Another significant factor will be the promised RTSS appeals mechanism.

Minister O’Brien confirmed at the recent Irish Road Haulage Association Annual Conference in Killarney that an appeals process would be introduced for operators dissatisfied with their assessment.

That could be particularly important for businesses whose applications have been rejected, whose vehicle numbers have been reduced or whose payments are lower than expected.

Until those outstanding applications and subsequent appeals have been processed, the final cost of the RTSS cannot be known.

But the Department should ultimately publish a detailed breakdown showing the number of applications received, the number approved and rejected, the number of eligible vehicles supported and the total amount paid.

Hauliers will want the balance explained

The Government deserves credit for recognising the extraordinary increase in fuel costs and introducing direct support for road transport operators.

But transparency over the final figures is equally important.

The €120 million headline attracted considerable attention when the scheme was announced. If the eventual expenditure comes substantially below that amount, operators will understandably want to know why.

And there is an even bigger question.

If tens of millions of euro from the original allocation remain unused once every eligible application and appeal has been dealt with, could that money be redirected into further support for the road haulage sector?

With diesel again placing enormous pressure on operating margins, there would certainly be a strong argument for doing so.

For now, however, the priority must be to process every outstanding valid application, establish the promised appeals mechanism and provide operators with a clear accounting of how much of the €120 million RTSS allocation has actually reached the transport sector.

Only then will we know how much – if anything – is really left in the pot.