Hauliers warn they ‘cannot sustain’ fuel prices ahead of meeting with Harris

Hauliers warned they “cannot sustain” current fuel prices and called for the retention of fuel supports, ahead of a meeting with Minister for Finance Simon Harris. Ger Hyland, president of the Irish Road Haulage Association, said his members are now desperate and have very little to lose.“Desperate times make desperate people,” he added when asked if his members were going to take to the roads again to protest at the increasing costs of transport fuel.In April this year, convoys of trucks, tractors and coaches brought traffic to a standstill in more than 25 towns and cities across the country in protest at rising fuel costs.READ MORE“There are a lot of our members out there at the present time and they have very little else to lose,” Hyland told Newstalk Breakfast.Representatives of the association are due to meet Harris today to talk about the budget and fuel prices. The price of diesel was now “edging close” to €2.20 a litre, Hyland said. “Never before has it been seen at this level in Ireland. Never before has our members been under so much pressure.“We just simply can’t afford diesel. Once diesel goes over the €1.90 mark it becomes mostly unviable for our industry.” Hyland said that any support for the transport community was support for the Irish economy.“Everything that we have in this country, whether we take it off the island or on to the island, it comes on the back of a truck. If the transport industry is supported it feeds in to keeping inflation down. “So the fuel supports need to remain in place until such time as there is some sort of a workable solution got in the Middle East.”Government support earlier in the year, while welcome, had not been all that was required but did help to keep the haulage industry viable, he said. The mood in the transport sector at present was one of fear, Hyland added. “These people have put a lifetime into building their businesses. Our members they just cannot sustain it. They’re seeing their businesses evaporating in front of their eyes.”He said 65c of every euro spent on fuel went back to the Government in the form of tax. Hyland acknowledged the sector could not achieve everything it wanted in negotiations with the Government but that it remained open to a “viable opportunity of getting some support”.