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IRHA: Irish constitution is a barrier to 0-licence removal
Page 14
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NO IRISH HAULIER has had its 0-licence revoked in the past two years, despite 14,000 infringements being notified to the police, according to figures released last week.
Further inquiries made by the Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) suggest that nobody is aware of an Irish haulier ever having its 0-licence taken away, because Irish law makes it particularly hard to do so.
The IRHA president, Vincent Caulfield (pictured), met with officials at the Irish Department of Transport last week to discuss the situation, and says the department is considering what to do.
He continues: "The problem appears to be that the Irish constitution says the right to make a living cannot be taken away from someone, so there have always been legal issues surrounding revoking a licence."
Caulfield says the IRHA wants the rules changed so that licences can be revoked in the worst cases: "particularly when dealing with individuals of questionable repute': The IRHA has questioned the Department of Transport about revocations before. In April, it approached Noel Dempsey TD, the transport minister, following Not only has Ireland never revoked an operating licence, but the IRHA also says it has never refused to issue one, either.
By contrast, the UK revoked eight 0-licences in the financial year 2007/2008, curtailed another eight and suspended another 10 0-licences.
Six warnings were also issued by the Traffic Commissioners and three cases were taken to the TCs by VOSA, but had no action taken.
This was out of a total of 34,000 prohibitions issued by VOSA in the same period.