SOAPBOX
Time to take to the Streets
T
he IRHA has presented a Pre-Budget Submission to Government arguing for the abolishment of “Green Diesel” and instead allow a system of credits to those entitled to them, which the IRHA argues should include hauliers. They have stated a business case that will return to the State some €300 million. I believe that figure is closer to €500 million. Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has rejected these calls and by the time this article is printed we IRHA members will know the worst of the 2011 Budget. My belief is that it will have included increases in both carbon and duty taxes on diesel. Th at will be the end result of the Department of Finance mandarins having looked at all the options open to them to keep honouring the Croke Park agreement and we are amongst the softest of options. It would be absolutely wonderful if I am wrong but I don’t believe I will be. Only once in the past have we really stood up for ourselves with any success and that was under IRHA President Gerry McMahon. Since Gerry’s time we have as they say, ‘taken the soup’, we have dined with the devil. We hauliers are the hardest working of people and whilst this country has bent over backwards to develop FDI (Foreign Direct Investment), the people that carried the produce of Ireland since the sixties survived on a legislative wing and a prayer with the only meaningful changes being those legislated by Europe (and they were not all good i.e. Cabotage). The State has continuously supported its own failed transport enterprises with millions whilst we have been ignored. The average citizen (and that includes Minister Noonan) has litt le appreciation that the amount of diesel a modern Irish truck carries is twice the size of the average home heating oil tank, and whereas the tank for your house should last six months, a truck will refi ll every week. Currently you will pay €0.74 per litre (industry will pay less) whereas we will pay €1.15 per litre, that’s approximately €1500 per truck per week, that is some contempt - it costs less to heat your home than to fuel Irish exports. The Irish farmer, fisherman and industry, all avail of rebated fuel and rely on the haulier to carry their produce to the four corners of Ireland and Europe. The ships that will carry the container or truck to the UK or Europe will also use a vastly rebated fuel, we are simply a link in the logistics chain. The IRHA’s Pre-Budget submission calls for recognition of this by allowing a rebate of taxes to all the links in the chain between producer and consumer. Th roughout Europe excise duties on fuel are used as a means of raising taxes for Government but the majority of European countries will allow a refund of some of those duties to their hauliers. As this country is the most reliant on trucks for its imports and exports, of all the
66 FLEETTRANSPORT | DEC 11/JAN 12
European countries it would seem logical to have a similar process. As Government has increased the price of diesel through both excise and carbon taxes a number of consequences have arisen both legal and criminal. All Irish international hauliers North and South are now buying in Luxembourg what they previously bought in Ireland, as there is a fourteen cent difference. Within the cohort of Irish hauliers the IRHA put the loss in revenues to the State at €200 million. Add to this the purchase by Northern Irish hauliers of whom the bulk are international operators and you have a considerable loss to the State. One Northern operator with fi ft y trucks now buys 20% of his fuel in the Republic where hitherto fore it was 80%, his monthly usage is 200,000 litres. With this alone it is easy to arrive at a sum of €300 million but that is not the end of the story of tax losses. Retail Ireland states that it believes 12% of all the fuel sold in the Republic is ‘washed diesel’, that is, diesel that was dyed and sold at the lower excise rate is washed of its dye and knowingly or unknowingly used by the haulier. That loss to the Government is put at €150 million. The criminal fraternity have invaded the fuel business in a large way and as well as the normal outlets they are selling to (both willing and unwilling buyers), they have their own fuel stations which ‘Pop Up’ (by which they are now known they have become so frequent) selling nothing but washed diesel. Retail Ireland has stated that there are at least 120 stations serving illegal fuel. There was a time when Customs & Excise Officers could prove the fuel was washed but the low sulphur fuels of today defy modern methods of detection. As quickly as a “washing’ facility is detected and shut down by Customs, another one springs up, such are the margins. These people have no qualms about their methods and include informants and the use of arms in their business plans. It is common knowledge that Customs & Excise and Gardai have been threatened in the course of their duties.
Without the fuel situation as it currently is, both An Garda Siochana and the Revenue could devote the resources they are using in this batt le to catch drug pushers, surely this must mean something to Mr. Noonan? As Past President of the IRHA Gerry McMahon told Department of Finance officials at a recent meeting “I hope this Government will stop supplying the raw material to the illicit operators supplying washed diesel and start supporting our own industry in time of need.” Add the costs of all of the foregoing and it is reasonable to put the loss to the State at well over half a billion euro. Ireland cannot afford this loss nor can the transport operator carry the unfair competition from those who will use the fuel. The IRHA in its Budget Submission has called for a single rate of fuel excise with a Rebate System for tax complaint licensed hauliers and others who currently using the rebated fuel. I respect Mr. Noonan’s judgment but in this issue I do not believe he knows the facts as I have outlined them. If he did he surely must act as Ireland cannot afford this sort of loss. If however it is as I suspect that we are ignored then I believe it is time to stand up and be counted. There are two caveats before we do anything, the fi rst is that we have made our case known to the public, we highlight our essential role in Irelands imports and exports, we explain the haulage industry is on its knees. Licenced vehicles and hauliers are falling off the register every day and most essentially we highlight that what we proposed to Government is revenue positive. The second caveat is that without the prior commitment of the members to a protest it should not take place. That being said I believe it is ‘Time to take to the Streets’.
The operators who do not abide by the rules business follows, issues such as Health and Safety are of no concern. The fuel is washed with an acid, which destroys the lubricating quality of the fuel. The acid and run off is then dumped in nearby streams with horrendous environmental consequences. T he cost of remediation of a site is considerable as the contaminated soil has to be exported for remediation. Text: Jerry Kiersey - jerry@fleet.ie