The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has expressed deep disappointment at the Government\u2019s failure to support Ireland\u2019s haulage sector in Budget 2026.<\/p>\n
While the continuation of the Diesel Rebate Scheme is welcomed, IRHA President Ger Hyland said this alone falls far short of what is needed to secure the future of an industry under severe financial pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe asked for a fair and practical package to help hauliers survive rising costs and drive decarbonisation. What we got was the bare minimum, simply keeping an existing measure in place. That\u2019s not progress, it\u2019s standing still,\u201d said Hyland.<\/p>\n
Mr Hyland says the industry is being strangled by excessive taxation. He wrote to and met with Minister Paschal Donohoe before the Budget outlining four key priorities for Budget 2026 which he says are essential for the survival of a haulage industry in crisis.<\/p>\n
Key priorities <\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0Biofuel\/FAME Rebate\u00a0\u2013 Licensed hauliers would receive a rebate on the non-fossil fuel component of diesel, similar to the current Diesel Rebate Scheme, encouraging the uptake of lower-carbon fuels while mitigating additional costs imposed on the sector.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0Biofuel (HVO) Rebate\u00a0\u2013 Operators using 100% Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) would qualify for a triple \u201cGreen Rebate,\u201d reflecting higher costs and lower energy content, supporting a pathway to achieve up to 90% CO\u2082\u00a0reduction.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0Maintain the Existing Diesel Rebate Scheme (DRS) \u2013 Given that diesel will remain essential to Ireland\u2019s economy for the foreseeable future, the IRHA calls for the continuation of the DRS at least until the current 2030 mandated end date, ensuring supply chain stability.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0M50 Toll Relief\u00a0for Licensed Hauliers\u00a0\u2013 To reduce disproportionate toll costs imposed by new city centre restrictions on haulier, the IRHA proposes toll relief for licensed hauliers on the M50, administered via a licence plate recognition system similar to the Diesel Rebate Scheme.<\/p>\n
The IRHA pre-budget submission detailed how these measures could be fully funded within the current economic and tax framework, requiring no additional state expenditure.<\/p>\n
Mr Hyland concluded: \u201cBudget 2026 is an abject failure for the Irish haulage industry. This will have knock-on consequences for the Irish economy as more hauliers go out of business. We now have higher diesel and fuel costs with no incentives from government to turn towards green measures and more environmentally friendly fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA heavy tax burden is making the haulage industry unviable. If the government doesn\u2019t take sensible measures to save our industry, they risk killing off the very engine that keeps this economy moving. We are the wheels on Ireland\u2019s economy. When we stop \u2013 Ireland stops.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) has expressed deep disappointment at the Government\u2019s failure to support Ireland\u2019s haulage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":61998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5244,61,60,42818,43],"class_list":["post-65487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-budget-2026","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-road-haulage-association","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}