standard is very high. It’s getting harder to win an award. Lads are looking after their trucks better now than ever before…” The economic crash has left everybody with considerably less money in their pockets but Irish hauliers haven’t lost their pride and that’s why vehicles – not just at shows but also on the road every day – are generally maintained in tip-top condition. “In the current climate, lads haven’t money to be spending on new trucks and a lot of them wouldn’t have much to spend on their existing trucks either, but they are looking after them all the same, even though there’s obviously not the same money being spent as there was back in the boom times.” How many trucks will Gerry bring to Full of the Pipe 2012? “We’ll bring two or three – probably two Volvos and the T-cab Scania that’s known as ‘The Hunky Dory Truck’. It won two prizes for us last year and I think it did the same the year before,” the proprietor of Dunsany Haulage notes. “Sure we’ll make a weekend of it and we’ll have a few drinks on the first night and see how it goes.” It has developed into a good family occasion, too, with plenty of attractions for everyone. Will the McQuaid clan be tagging along, then? “They went down to the show in 2010 and to be honest the truck scene isn’t their scene,” Gerry reveals. “This year I think the organisers do 58
seem to be going more into the whole family thing and they are trying to appeal to more age groups, but I’d say my crew will be staying at home!” Gerry has nothing but praise for Kevin Mulqueen and Colin Hegarty, whose work in organising the show every year is enormous: “It’s very professionally organised. I’ll tell you one thing: something like this is very hard to pull off and I certainly wouldn’t like to be the one organising it! It’s a professional as you could possibly get and you have to give the lads great credit. “This year’s event will be better too with the indoor arena. The weather has been a big factor in the past but we’ll be immune to that this time. There was an awful lot of rain last year and that turned a lot of people away.” Over the years, Gerry has travelled to truck shows all over the island – Wexford, Cork, Belfast, Ennis, Athlone etc. He’s looking forward to seeing what Cavan has to offer as a venue. He’s also looking forward to having a look at the trade stands etc. and seeing what innovations are on display this year: “Of course you pick up bits and pieces and you get talking to other people in the industry, who are perhaps involved in different aspects of trucking, and you learn about life in other areas. It’s interesting to get a view of the bigger picture of what’s going on in haulage in Ireland.