Minister of State for Transport James Lawless has rejected a call from hauliers for more than €60 million per month in financial aid to prevent trucking firms from going out of business due to the Holyhead crisis.
Holyhead Port in Wales has been out of action since its jetties were damaged severely in Storm Darragh earlier this month.
It was reported last week that the Irish Road Haulage Association met Mr Lawless before Christmas and warned him that trucking companies could begin to collapse within weeks if there is no intervention.
A sum of more than €60 million per month in financial aid was advanced by the industry as the necessary funding to prevent business closures.
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During an interview on RTÉ radio on Sunday, Mr Lawless was asked if he considered €60 million to be an appropriate amount.
He replied “no” while adding that he did not want to “demean or diminish the huge challenge this is for hauliers and for the industry”.
[ Hauliers seek €60m a month in aid to cope with Holyhead port closureOpens in new window ]
He said he has invited hauliers and others to “put forward a proposal based upon the demonstrable losses, how those losses have been experienced, what exactly they are, quantifying them”.
He said that one-third of hauliers in Ireland do not travel internationally at all and of the remaining two-thirds, “a lot of those don’t go to the UK” and he added, “so straight away, not every haulier is affected”.
Mr Lawless did not say what he believed an appropriate figure for financial support would be.
“I’ve invited the industry, who to be fair know far better than me what challenges they are experiencing operationally and economically on any given day ... to put together a proposal,” he said.
He and his officials would “engage with them on it. We haven’t got that in yet, but they’re very welcome to put that to me and to my department”.
Holyhead Port has said it will remain closed until January 15th at the earliest due to the storm damage.
“Talking to people in the port, sources suggest that they are still making every effort to make that deadline. Perhaps they won’t have the entire port back open but that some facility may be available to come back on stream,” said Mr Lawless.
He said other industry commentators “would suggest that it’s a tall order to get the entire berth back in action” in that time frame.
“What I’ve said all along is that we hope for the best, but we plan for the worst,” he added.
He said the Government is working with ferry and haulage companies and that additional routes to Britain have been opened.
There is also engagement with the Welsh and UK governments, including on getting access to another port at Pembroke and Mr Lawless said he is “quite confident” this route can be opened up in the coming days.
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