DUBLIN: The roads to Dublin port were highly disrupted by heavy traffic, where truck drivers were protesting over higher road tax for lorries in Ireland compared to the UK. The drivers and their associations warned authorities against further delays.
The Department of Transport said, in a statement, that it has been working with the IRHA over the past year and there have been good engagements with former minister Leo Varadkar and new Minster Paschal Donohoe.
The members of said they have to pay €4,000 a year to tax a six-axle truck registered in Ireland, five times the rate in Britain and Northern Ireland.
They were also protesting over a tax of £10 levied when entering the UK. East Wall Road was blocked by members of the IRHA for several hours this morning. Trucks were being blocked from exiting Dublin Port
The association said 50,000 people are employed in the haulage sector and if things do not change, these jobs will be at risk.
It wants the Government to change the system of road tax for commercial vehicles before the Budget is passed into law.
The department added that there is an inter-departmental group looking at options to deal with road tax for the haulage industry, and that work is continuing.
