50 | SOAPBOX
Be Prepared
U
nfortunately, I missed the 41st AGM of the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) due to a long booked vacation to Singapore. The fl ight was in two parts with the second leg by Airbus A380, an amazing aircraft that alas cannot land in Dublin. By the bye, coming into Dublin passengers are asked to report to the Department of Agriculture office if they have been on a farm, whereas coming into the Singapore the announcement is to warn passenger that the Sovereign City-State does not tolerate drugs and enforces the law with corporal and capital punishment. I could write a lot about Singapore, maybe we should be looking there instead of Boston? Back to Terra Firma, I was sorry to miss the annual IRHA AGM& Conference as there was a real buzz at last year's 40th and I felt that the Minister for Transport’s address was very much in touch with the industry. If you have been going to IRHA AGM’s as long as I have you begin to realize that some Ministers wouldn’t know the back of a lorry from the front, and that the Transport Portfolio was given out primarily to those who had to get something by way of a Ministerial car to keep the punters somewhere sweet. Courtesy of the IRHA, I got a copy of this year’s Ministerial Address and I think that Minister Varadkar is up there with the best of them. He has yet to prove he is the best but I know he’s working on it. Next on the agenda is UK’s Road User Levy and the Minister’s comments on it. Minister Varadkar is obviously more than familiar with the RUL and the fact that the Taoiseach raised the issue with Prime Minister Cameron means he is well briefed by his Transport Minister. The tenor of the Government’s approach is to look for exemptions or part exemptions within Northern Irish roads and the logic of gett ing an exemption on the A5 which has been cofunded by the Republic, is sound. However if anyone, member or non-member thinks that the UK Government is going to row back on something its own haulage industry has lobbied for, for the best part of twenty years, they are deluding themselves. The IRHA is an organisation that represents primarily small businesses and its punch in the past has always revolved around the quality of leadership. It has packed a tremendous punch in its current phase achieving the Essential User Rebate (EUR), which is a major fi nancial benefit to the industry. However like in so many things the Association has achieved in the past such as VAT on tolls, it seems to be a case of “eaten bread soon forgotten” by those who ask, “sure what is the IRHA doing for me, sure they do nothing” when asked to become a member. That “nothing” is putt ing money in every truck operator’s pocket every day. Delegations to meet MLA’s in Northern Ireland will say exactly what is wanted of them to make sure they don’t lose votes, Ochón agus Ochón they cry to all who come to them but it doesn’t amount to a hill of beans and is a waste of time on the RUL. My point is this, the RUL has been on the cards for four years, that was the time to lobby the Irish Government for a way of neutralizing it because the British never would. That cost neutrality can come from charging the 41 percent of the non-National registered trucks that come into Dublin Port every day the same rate, likewise the Northern Irish based hauliers which cross the Border every day and use their rebates through the RUL to reduce the cost of the truck’s annual road tax. Th is is the official policy of the IRHA, it will take longer to achieve than any of us would like but it will win the batt le. The IRHA is totally dependent on members and would be members for the amount of resources they can put into any issue, for example, the EUR succeeded because the IRHA got the support of an active membership. Despite the Association raising the issue, it seems the membership did not become alert to the RUL until it actually came into force. It takes time and effort to “Be Prepared”.
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Text: Jerry Kiersey - jerry@fleet.ie