A n "open and frank" relationship with Government could be taken
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as a euphemism for a series of no-holds-barred slanging matches in which neither side wins, but IRHA president Sheila McCabe takes a positive view of the situation at the beginning of her second year in office.
"The relationship with the Department of Transport has improved with better consultation on issues as they arise," she explains. "They used to make announcements without consulting us; now we are called in. It's a complete turnaround." There have been tangible results from all this talk. At last month's IRHA conference in Limerick the Minister for Transport, Noel Treacy, announced an increase in the life of an international licence from three years to five with the same concession to follow for domestic licences.
What's more, said Treacy, the time taken to process applications had fallen from four weeks to two with the eventual aim of processing applications by return. These moves were the result of a one-day conference in which Irish hauliers aired their concerns to their DOT.
The main benefit of longer licences , says McCabe, is to
eliminate some of the stifling red tape that hauliers endure. The IRHA is still pressing its claim for one minister to deal with all transport matters and a one-stop shop for licence applications.
At least one step has been eliminated from the process. In the oast hauliers went to the DOT to get a licence, which then had to Pe presented to the Department of Finance for authorisation (at a fee of CIR20), followed by presentation to the Public Service Vehicles Plating Office which finally issued the licence plate. Hauliers no longer hove to visit the Department of Finance as authorisation has passed to the DOT. In her first year in office McCabe has also begun to address international issues. She visited Brussels and talked to Robert Coleman, director general of the EC Transport Commission. "Brussels is looking to toughen the regulations for entry to the haulage industry ," she says. "They have realised that Europe has reached a crisis point." She is dedicated to lobbying for the industry's concerns at home and abroad: 'We are part of Europe and have to work together to further the interest of Irish hauliers. With the Tunnel open we are the last island in Europe."