Calls have been made for the government to provide support packages
‘Heaping taxes upon taxes’ as haulage industry close to collapse
THE Irish Road Haulage Industry have laid the blame for the closure of Fastway couriers squarely on the shoulders of an Irish government “heaping taxes upon taxes” on an industry that is “close to collapse.”
Earlier this week delivery and logistics company Nuvion Group entered receivership, putting around 300 jobs under threat.
Nuvion group includes Fastway, a Baldonnell Business Park based courier company
Irish Road Haulage Association President, Ger Hyland said that the Fastway closure is only the beginning and it won’t be long before there are hundreds of haulage companies entering receivership leading to thousands of job losses, undelivered goods and a devastating impact on the Irish economy.
According to IRHA President Ger Hyland, Irish rural hauliers are now owed thousands of euros because of the closure of Fastway couriers, which will be almost impossible to recoup.
Hyland described it as a body blow to an industry that is already on its knees and said this is the start of a domino effect of closures in the transport industry.
Hyland criticised government policy and party leaders for ignoring the pleas of the haulage industry in last month’s budget and said the chickens are now coming home to roost.
“This government gave us nothing in last month’s budget. We sat down with party leaders and explained what would happen if we did not get support. So this government cannot say they were not warned about what happened today with Fastway couriers”
“Government policy is to continue to impose higher fuel costs, ignore supports to help us transition to green HVO fuels, impose more taxes and crippling regulations on a transport industry that cannot cope”
“We are the wheels that make the Irish economy turn but those wheels are coming off now. I hope that when the media are interviewing politicians about the hundreds of job losses at Fastway and the knock on impact on rural Ireland, they will ask the government why they didn’t listen to the haulage industry who warned of impending closures.
Hyland called on the government to provide an immediate support package to the transport and haulage industry to try and stave off the worst of the impending closures.
