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EU paves Irish road to sums
Page 17
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Roads in the Republic are embarassingly good Irish hauliers tell David Harri
ROADS IN THE Republic of .reland are so good that hauliers n Northern Ireland are ashamed )f the condition of their own iighways. according to the Freight Transport Association.
The Republic has taken full idvantage of European grants .0 improve its road network in 4ecent years. with the result that roads north of the border are far vorse than those to the south, says Tom Wilson, the FTA's Northern Ireland manager.
"The roads arc so good that it Ioes leave us a bit embarrassed." he admits. Improving Northern Ireland's roads is one of the issues that the FTA wants to discuss with Northern Ireland Minister John Spellar in a proposed Freight Forum to highlight hauliers' concerns.
Wilson says:"There are now lots of planned road projects but we want to try and make sure that the right ones get done first."
The idea for a Freight Forum emerged from a recent meeting of the ETA's Regional Freight Council. It could also discuss how road user charging would work in Northern Ireland there are fears that hauliers from the South would find it easy to evade the charge (CM 4 December).
Wilson says: The aim of the charge, as far as I understand it. is to replace fuel duty and so remove the competitive advantage held by hauliers from across the border. But we are concerned that with more than 300 border crossings, hauliers fri South would find it easy to paying the new charges.