Rebate to put money back into economy

LAST month’s much-feared budget has been the subject of plenty of criticism over the last few weeks but it was relatively popular with hauliers, due to the introduction of a rebate on fuel for the industry.
President of the Irish Road Haulage Association, Eoin Gavin, who is based in Bunratty, said the move will be a significant help to a beleaguered sector and will also bring money currently being spent abroad back into the Irish economy.
“The rebate won’t come in until July. There has to be a bit of negotiating done and the level of the rebate will vary, depending on the price of fuel at the pumps at the time. It’ll curb the rising cost of fuel and give some stability. It’ll stop the use of laundered fuel and green diesel by trucks because the difference in price will be less and it gives recognition to the legitimate hauliers because it won’t apply to those whose taxes aren’t up to date.”
The rebate will only apply to those in haulage, while he said the extent of it will depend on the prevailing prices around Europe. “It’ll vary. The maximum that can be given is 14c a litre under a European directive. Based on the price at the pumps today, I’d say it’d be at about 12c. It has to be at the same level as the price of fuel in Europe because otherwise the international hauliers won’t fill back in Ireland and that’s where the big benefit will be to the Government.”
At the moment, Mr Gavin has 13 lorries on the road. He estimates that he spends around €70,000 a month on fuel but only €20,000 of this is spent in this country. However, he expects the proportion of fuel bought in Ireland to increase very significantly after the rebate.
“There’s a lot of fuel to come back into the economy. Our industry burns 600 million litres on average in a year and there’s over 200 million litres of that to come back to Ireland and that’s why the rebate will be tax neutral. It’s putting money back into the economy,” he added.
However, Mr Gavin warned that if the rebate isn’t large enough, Ireland won’t get the benefit it should experience.
“There’s always a risk that the Irish hauliers filling abroad won’t come back in. They’ll only come back in if the rebate is correctly priced, so the only risk for Government is if they decide to give a small rebate. That will cost them money because if they give a small rebate, the guys filling abroad will still fill abroad and the people buying their fuel in Ireland will get it,” he said.