Waterford hauliers slam government as they ignore their suggestions to reduce transport emissions

The Irish Road Hauliers Association President, Ger Hyland, described it as ironic that Ireland is on schedule to overshoot our 2030 greenhouse gas emissions target for transport, buildings, small industry, waste and agriculture by approximately 57%.

According to Hyland, Government were presented, in 2021, with five key actions that would decarbonise the transport industry significantly in Ireland and help to achieve our ambitious target of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. Hyland claims those actions were ignored.

“In July 2021, we were asked to feed into a ten year Transport Strategy for Ireland initiated by Ministers Hildegarde Naughton and Eamon Ryan. The transport sector has always acknowledged that we contribute approximately twenty percent to Ireland’s annual carbon emissions.

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"We then presented government with five key actions, low hanging fruit, which were quickly deliverable, low cost and could lead to an immediate reduction in emissions from our transport sector. All were ignored. Now Ireland is facing into 26 billion in fines because different agencies of the state are not implementing simple key measures that can drastically reduce carbon emissions”

Ger Hyland laid out the five proposals to government at the time as follows:

* Express HGV lanes at tolls.

* Incentives to remove older HGV’s.

* Support for the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil.

* 40 to 42 Tonnes on 5 axles reinstated.

* ECO driving training for all drivers.

“There are other measures that government agencies could implement to reduce carbon including improved traffic light sequencing, support for night time deliveries, increased opening times for our ports, and improved staggering of ferry crossings. All of which would improve transport efficiency and reduced road congestion, whilst drastically reducing emissions. The government just don’t seem interested in working with us to reduce emissions”

According to Hyland, the haulage industry is acutely aware of their responsibilities to reduce CO2 emissions and have made solid proposals over many years within several different administrations which, to date, have been ignored.

Hyland called for an immediate meeting with Government leaders to work to progress these climate measures as a means of hitting our ambitious climate targets whilst mitigating against future crippling climate fines.