Pre-Budget submission calls for re-think claiming Green proposal will fail

Proposals to introduce a carbon fuel tax as a means of reducing carbon emissions will fail unless the tax can be applied to the services provided by hauliers, the Irish Road Haulage Association has claimed in a pre-Budget submission to Government.

The Association, which is the representative body for the Irish road transport industry, has described the current proposal to introduce the carbon tax as an exercise in futility.

Its submission questions the proposed mechanism for introducing carbon taxes and calls for the Government to permit licensed freight carriers to charge a carbon tax on services in the same way as VAT.

It expresses the IRHA’s serious concern that the Government has adopted an incomplete approach to the issue while underlining the impact that this will have on the future of the industry.

“The Government is missing the point and appears to be motivated more by a desire to create a new mechanism for collecting tax than by any genuine commitment to reducing the levels of carbon emissions,” said Mr. Vincent Caulfield, President of the IRHA.

“It needs to refocus its proposal on the reality that the demand for transportation services and the movement of freight is collectively generated by manufacturers, traders, distributors and consumers. The road haulage industry is simply facilitating that demand,” he said.

“Carbon taxes must be targeted so that they effect a change in the behaviour of the only parties who have the potential to achieve a real reduction in carbon emissions. If a carbon tax is to be applied to the only fuel available to the freight transportation industry, it must also be applied to the transport services provided by the industry,” Mr. Caulfield continued.

“Introducing a blunt fuel tax is a misguided, half-baked attempt to address the root cause of carbon emissions. Short of refusing to move freight, hauliers are not in a position to effect a reduction in freight movement or to influence the distances over which freight must be carried,” he added.

The submission also highlighted the success of targeting consumers with the plastic bag tax. It emphasised that the proposed carbon tax must be applied in the same way to parties requiring freight transportation services as the only effective means of achieving a reduction in carbon emissions.

“The IRHA recognises and accepts the environmental issues associated with carbon emissions and is supportive of effective solutions with the potential to reduce them. The opportunity to do that will be lost if the Government does not examine the issue in its entirety,” said Mr. Caulfield.

The submission underlined that carbon monoxide emissions of modern trucks have been reduced by 88% from 12.3 g/kWh to 1.5 g/kWh since 1988 without the burden or necessity of a carbon tax. The IRHA’s commitment as members of the International Road Transport Union to a further reduction of 30% by 2030 was also outlined.

The Association said that it was disingenuous for the Government to suggest that a carbon tax could play any part in promoting the wider use of non-fossil fuels until such time as these were actually available.

It expressed disappointment at the level of progress being made to develop alternative fuels, stating that Government support to enable the establishment of an alternative fuel industry in Ireland was insufficient and non-inventive.

For further information and interviews with Mr. Vincent Caulfield contact:

Vincent Caulfield – President - 086 2541 424