I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will be sharing my time with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the road transporters' support scheme, RTSS. I will provide more detail on the scheme and who the scheme will support . The road haulage sector is of national strategic importance in bringing essential supplies into and around the State, supporting key infrastructure and enabling the maintenance of all economic and social activity in our country. Employment in the logistics and supply chain sector is expanding with over 246,000 people working across diverse logistics and supply chain roles, including nearly 60,000 in the transport sector, according to the 2022 census data. The commercial bus and coach sector is a pillar of Ireland's public transport and tourism sector ensuring urban and rural connectivity and underpinning public and school transport networks. Both sectors have been significantly impacted by a multitude of crises in recent years, from the Covid-19 pandemic to the temporary closure of Holyhead Port. These critical transport sectors have demonstrated remarkable resilience and a willingness to collaborate with policymakers to overcome challenges. Recent cost pressures borne out of the conflict in Iran represent a threat not just to the transport sector but indeed to our whole economy. Higher prices for hauliers lead to secondary price rises across all sectors they supply and feed into higher prices across our economy. The European Commission has stated that it is essential to contain freight transport costs to limit wider inflationary pressures. This Government has acted quickly and decisively to support our hauliers and public transport providers. On 24 March, the Government allocated €250 million in targeted supports to assist those experiencing real and immediate financial pressure including reductions in excise rates for fuels and increased repayment rates for eligible recipients of the diesel rebate scheme. On 12 April the Government agreed a new additional package of measures to further reduce excise rates on fuel and it announced additional supports for the transport sector and the farming and fisheries industries at an estimated cost of €505 million. In total, this is a package of over €755 million. This is proportionately the largest package of supports provided by any EU member state. I am pleased to inform the House that the details of the scheme to support the haulage and coach sector have been agreed by Government. I can now provide a detail of its design and implementation. The road transporters' support scheme, RTSS, will be modelled on the licensed hauliers support schemes of 2022 and 2023. They were deployed at the time to assist the sector given the higher fuel prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I can confirm that the RTSS will go further than the previous schemes and will be open to both licensed road haulage operators and own-account sector operators, as well as licensed road passenger operators subject to certain criteria. Supports will also be provided to operators of the TFI Local Link services under contract with the National Transport Authority, and school transport services through the Department of Education and Youth. Passenger service operators that do not fall under the scope of the supports provided by the NTA or Department of Education and Youth may be eligible for support under this scheme. Applications for support will be considered on a case-by-case basis, which is necessary given the complexity of most passenger service providers' business models where the same operator may provide services under Local Link services, school transport services, and indeed on a commercial basis. The scheme is directed primarily at the road transport sector given its importance to the wider supply chain and to businesses and communities throughout the country. The scheme reflects the immediate need for financial support and the ongoing commitment of the Government to work with the sector to maintain Ireland's essential trade and strategic supply chains. I commend the representatives of the haulage sector, the coach and the bus operators on the really constructive way in which they engaged with the Government right the way through the course of this year, and they continue to do so, representing their members exceptionally well. The RTSS will provide direct payments to haulage and coach operators. Payments will be graduated with smaller businesses receiving a proportionately greater level of support. An initial payment backdated from March 2026 will be made to each qualifying haulage or coach operator. The scheme will remain in place for three months and payments will be made for April and May if the national average price of diesel exceeds €1.90 per litre in any given month. The RTSS will also offer support for operators of ferry services to and from our island communities that do not hold a government contract that includes a fuel price variation clause. My Department is liaising with the Department of the Gaeltacht and rural affairs on how to administer this support. The combined cost of these supports for the transport sector is estimated at €40 million per month. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport and I will administer the scheme. Officials have already begun to develop an electronic application and processing system to facilitate payments under the scheme. We estimate it will take a number of weeks to complete the development of the system itself. Again, we have engaged with the sector on that and it is content with that. This will allow an efficient payment system through an online portal application, which will be a simple application with certain criteria set out around tax compliance and various things like that which are important. Engagement with the European Commission on state-aid rules is ongoing in parallel with the system development. The Department is working towards opening the scheme for applications in the next couple of weeks with payments made as quickly as possible thereafter. I am sure Deputies will agree there has been some concern that supports will only be provided to licensed hauliers or to hauliers who are members of recognised representative bodies. I assure the House and the sector that the scheme has been designed to support the overall road transport sector to the very widest possible extent. Having said that, a key design consideration of this scheme is the need to avoid over compensation for operators with mixed business models who could otherwise seek support under the fuel support scheme being established by colleagues in the Department of agriculture. A number of key eligibility criteria will apply and it is important to note that eligibility does not mean an entitlement to funding. I would expect that this scheme can support up to about 48,000 operators, which is up from 25,000 in the previous scheme. Each application will be assessed by officials within the Department of Transport against a common set of requirements. Payments will be made to applicants once they can satisfy the necessary criteria. Full details on eligibility criteria and the application process will be made available as soon as possible. We expect that to be within the next week but I will highlight some of the minimum requirements today. As payments will be backdated to 1 March all applicants must meet the following conditions as of that date. They must be a holder of a road haulage operator licence issued by the Department of Transport, or where the applicant is not normally required to hold a road haulage operator licence be an operator whose normal commercial activity relates to the carriage of goods by roads, or be the holder of a passenger operator licence issued by the Department of Transport. In all cases, only vehicles registered on the Department’s National Vehicle and Driver File database with motor tax paid and a valid commercial vehicle road worthiness test, CVRT, certificate will be eligible for support under the scheme. All applicants will be required to be registered for tax in this State, have a valid tax clearance certificate and be able to demonstrate that their business is an ongoing concern. Declarations and proof will be sought from all applicants and will be verified by the Department. For licensed road hauliers, supports will be provided for all vehicles of over 3,500 kg listed on their licences as of 1 March. Licensed passenger operators will be eligible only for vehicles listed on their passenger operator licences. Some passenger operators provide services under Local Link or school transport services as well as on a commercial basis. Officials are working with the NTA and the Department of education to ensure that these providers are fairly supported, either through contractual arrangements or under this scheme. The RTSS will follow the same structure as the previous licensed haulage support scheme. I will go through the amounts. Adjustments have been made to reflect inflation. A total of €1,350 is being given per vehicle for the first five vehicles. An additional €790 per vehicle will be given for the sixth to 20th vehicles, while an extra €300 will be allocated per vehicle for operators with 21-plus vehicles. Based on the Department of Transport’s data, the average licensed haulier has 17 vehicles on their operator's licence. That business would receive a payment of €16,230. In that instance, the operator will receive €1,350 for each of their first five vehicles and €790 for each of their next 12 vehicles. I will shortly hand over to the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who will provide more detail on some of measures. Before I do that, however, I wish to reassure the House that the support package has been carefully considered following ongoing engagement that the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, officials and I have had with representatives of the haulage and passenger services. One must take this scheme in the context of the other measures it is coupled with, such as the significant excise duty reductions, the National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy pause and the increase in the diesel rebate scheme, which is administered by the Revenue Commissioners and runs until the end of July. By any fair assessment, and to be fair to the sector, this had been broadly welcomed. This is a robust and significant support package for a sector that needs and deserves our support because it is critical to our economy and supply chain.

Sentiment score: 0.30