Shake-up in Ireland IRHA demand
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Mr Mitchell said this when he poke to the Irish Road Haulage .ssociation's annual conference s Limerick earlier this month, ut he refused to elaborate on that his plans are, other than ley are based on the recomiendations of the 1981 Transort Consultative Commission aport.
This was designed to make the oad haulage industry more effiient and to persuade ownpccount operators to abandon heir fleets in favour of profes ional hire or reward services. The report has already passed hrough the hands of three Irish ransport Ministers.
Ireland is belived to have the argest own-account sector in Europe, with almost 70 per cent A goods being moved in corn)anies' own vehicles.
But, armed with new statistics, Vir Mitchell revealed that despite he long history of restricted egislation hauliers now account or 40 per cent of freight activity pn Irish roads. This is double the Figure shown in a 1964 study.
Replying to criticisms of the levels of transport legislation enforcement, Mr Mitchell said that in 1982 over 7,600 inspections under the EEC drivers' hours and tachograph regulations were carried out at transport premises and on vehicles on the road. "This indicates a very strong improvement when you take these figures in the context of the overall number of vehicles operating on our roads," he said.
"The effectiveness of these inspections is highlighted by the fact that over 700 prosecutions were initiated as a result and of these, 180 cases were heard in court. Fines of up to a maximum of IMOD in some cases were imposed on the majority of offenders," Mr Mitchell added.
In reply, IRHA president Jim Walsh argued: "Our association has been putting forward the type of policy which we felt would not only have been of tremendous assistance to the haulage sector, but to induStry at large, in that it would have given the opportunity to redirect investments which are going into trucks and rolling stock into more productive areas.
"This saving, better deployed, would have been of tremendous use in creating jobs in these industries," he added.