Longford senator says haulier told him it was costing him more than €1,100 per day to work

​Longford Senator Paraic Brady has said a Longford haulier recently told him it was costing him more than €1,100 per day to go to work and run his lorry per day.

The Fine Gael representative was speaking after the fuel price protests, including the slow-moving convoys along the N4 bypass in the county town and throughout the region, were what he described as a 'wake-up call' for the Government.

The Drumlish-based politician stated there is now 'less of a gap' between working people, whose disposable income has fallen sharply, and individuals on social welfare, which has led to unrest and it needs to be addressed.

Senator Brady stated he recently spoke to a Longford haulier who claimed it was costing him more than €1,160 to run a lorry per day with fuel costs of €567 and additional expenses such as wages, PRSI, repayments along with a lorry and trailer loan and maintenance costs.

Senator Brady said 'we need to look after the people that get up in the morning and go to work' as a priority.

"You see, there's not enough of a divide at this moment in time between the working class man and the man that is not working that is on social welfare.

"Government tends to look after social welfare a lot more than they look after the working class man."

Senator Brady said if there are any lessons to be learned out of this it is that "middle Ireland and the working-class people in Ireland have said enough is enough and I do think as a Government we didn't listen".

He added: "Now that people have spoken we have no other choice than to listen to them and it's up to us to make changes that alleviate their concerns and their plight.

"That is why you're put in there, to change policy that makes a change in people's lives.
"And lets hope we are still fit to do that and still keep an economy strong because after all our economy is strong.

"But the backbone of our economy is our farmers our hauliers and our working-class people and we must never forget that."

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The Fine Gael Oireachtas member said he believes the €505 million in Government measures announced on Sunday evening had been relatively well received but the finer details were still being studied by farmers, hauliers and the wider public.

"I think people are weighing things up and giving us a chance to see what's in this package and they actually need to sit down and see what's in it for them."

The measures announced by the Government have reduced the excise on green diesel by a further 2.4c bringing the total reduction to 7.4c and they have also announced a further 10c cut in excise on diesel bringing the total reduction on diesel to 32c.

Senator Brady also referred to the Government's €100 million Fuel Subsidy Support Scheme to assist farmers, agricultural contractors and fishers facing unprecedented increases in fuel costs who will benefit from a support rate equivalent of about 20c per litre, but he added there has been some 'confusion'.

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"People are saying to me that there's only 4.4c of a reduction on a litre of green diesel, but actually, there's 27.4c on a litre of green diesel.

"There is a scheme [the Fuel Subsidy Support Scheme] at this moment in time, where there is a 20c reduction on all purchases of diesel.

"So if you bought a thousand litres of diesel last year in the month of March, and it cost whatever it cost, and you buy a thousand litres this year, you get €274.00 back on your purchase this year.

"I do think that when farmers and contractors realise what's in it for them [they will be satisfied].

"I think the lorry contractors are also reasonably happy with the announcements."
Senator Brady said ‘sometimes when you are in government you need a wake-up call and this is the 'biggest wake-up call that anybody can get'.