This week will see a new tax applied to all Republic of Ireland trucks that are operating in Britain that will effectively add around €30 to a return trip. Jim Higgins who is Ireland’s representative on the European Parliament Transport Committee has called for the Taoiseach to whatever it takes to prevent the new UK truck tax from taking place and has branded it discriminatory.

Speaking about the new tax Mr. Higgins said “I have discussed the matter with Transport Minister Leo Varadkar over the past number of months, and he has been successful in getting small sections of the A3 near Clones exempted, but it is not enough. The Taoiseach now needs to tell the UK that the charge is going to hurt Irish hauliers, and furthermore that it is discriminatory. The Government should examine the possibility of lodging a complaint with the European Commission on the grounds of discrimination, since the tax will affect Republic of Ireland registered trucks, but not NI registered trucks.”