'Fastway closure is only the beginning': Hauliers criticise Government policy

Eva Osborne

The Irish Road Haulage Industry has said that the closure of Fastway couriers, with the loss of hundreds of jobs, is a direct result of a Government policy.

The IRHA said Government policy has focused on "heaping taxes upon taxes" on a haulage and transport industry that is "close to collapse".

Around 300 jobs are at risk as the parent company of Fastway Couriers enters receivership, with delays and disruptions to deliveries expected to follow.

Hundreds more subcontractor and franchisee roles could also be impacted.

Nuvion is blaming inflation, rising costs, and market pressures for its collapse.

According to IRHA president Ger Hyland, Irish rural hauliers are now owed thousands of euros because of the closure of Fastway couriers, which will be almost impossible to recoup.

Hyland described it as a body blow to an industry that is already on its knees, and said this is the start of a domino effect of closures in the transport industry.

He criticised Government policy and party leaders for ignoring the pleas of the haulage industry in last month’s budget and said the chickens are now coming home to roost.

“This government gave us nothing in last month's budget. We sat down with party leaders and explained what would happen if we did not get support. So this government cannot say they were not warned about what happened today with Fastway couriers," he said.

“Government policy is to continue to impose higher fuel costs, ignore supports to help us transition to green HVO fuels, impose more taxes and crippling regulations on a transport industry that cannot cope.

“We are the wheels that make the Irish economy turn but those wheels are coming off now. I hope that when the media are interviewing politicians about the hundreds of job losses at Fastway and the knock on impact on rural Ireland, they will ask the government why they didn’t listen to the haulage industry who warned of impending closures.

Hyland said the Fastway courier closure will have an enormous impact on Ireland’s rural economy where small businesses pay for packages to be delivered to customers in advance.

“This is only the beginning of the chaos. More haulage and transport companies will be forced out of business by the policies of this government.

"At this point in time, there are any number of small businesses that have paid for packages that are sitting in depots. Will customers get their products that they paid for? Will hauliers get paid for the work they have done?”