The Irish Road Haulage Association  (IRHA) has welcomed the news today that stricter measures for granting and retaining a transport license for hauliers with criminal convictions will come into effect this September.

The new regulations were introduced by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey TD, who set up an inquiry following revelations that a convicted drug dealer was issued with a haulage license. As many as 20 road hauliers with criminal records may now be forced off the road when these new regulations come into force.

Commenting on the news today President of the I.R.H.A. Mr Vincent Caulfield stated, that the I.R.H.A. welcomed this decision which was “long overdue”. He continued, “The I.R.H.A. has been concerned over the granting of road haulage licenses to some operators for several years.”

However, he cautioned that operators trading without a haulage license should now face even greater penalties, as these new regulations only apply to hauliers who already hold a licence and has no effect on those who don’t and are not legally compliant.

He added, “This report is a move in the right direction but it also highlights the issues regarding the Department of Transport appearing to ignore its own policy guidelines by granting road-haulage licenses to some individuals.” Mr Caulfield concluded, “More must be done to protect the legitimate and complaint licensed haulage sector”.                                                                          

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Hauliers with previous convictions for drug trafficking, murder, sexual assaults, firearms offences and human trafficking in the past five years will have to give up their licenses. The penalty for those who fail to comply will be a three-year prison sentence or a €500,000 fine, or both.   

 For further information please contact: Mr Vincent Caulfield – 086-2541424

President of the Irish Road Haulage Association