Unless the government provides financial support and incentives for the transport and logistics sector, its ambitions to decarbonise the industry and achieve net zero emissions by 2050 will be missed, according to one of Ireland’s biggest membership associations.
Writing in FTA Ireland’s pre-Budget submission for government consideration ahead of the Budget reveal on 1 October, Aidan Flynn, FTA Ireland’s Chief Executive has set out the issues facing the industry as it aims to achieve net zero, while continuing to deliver for Ireland’s households and businesses:
“Our industry is crucial to all economic activity across the country, as well as the nation’s trading relationships, and employs more than 113,000 individuals: we are critical to ensuring that Ireland’s trade continues to flourish and we all have access to all the goods we need, every day. Yet over the past few years, operational costs have been climbing steadily, with business viability challenges now meaning that our members must either seek government support or risk creating an inflationary pressure through raising prices – something our industry is loath to do.
“Wage inflation and the cost of fuel continue to put pressure on the bottom line for our sector, with a shortage of skilled staff putting a further squeeze on revenue streams for our member businesses. Operating as they do to such narrow margins, these increased costs will need to be met somewhere and while business owners do not want to pass them on to customers, there is only so much our industry can stand – we need government support to ease the financial pressures on our sector and keep our industry operating effectively.”
The biggest pressure on the bottom line of many transport and logistics businesses at present is the demand to decarbonise and innovate. And as Mr Flynn continues, while the industry is committed to playing its part as Ireland moves to a net zero future, this cannot happen without government support and guidance:
“We are fully behind the government’s net zero targets but to make all the changes necessary to achieve them will require significant resources and funding. New vehicles, newly trained staff to operate and service them, a new refuelling network (assuming the preferred fuel of choice is selected), all will take funds which our industry simply does not have. If the government is serious about and committed to achieving to its decarbonisation agenda, it needs to support transport and logistics operators to play their part through subsidies and grants in this year’s Budget, to keep transport moving across the country.”
Full details of FTA Ireland’s Pre-Budget Submission can be found here: https://ftai.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2025-fta-ireland-pre-budget-submission.pdf
