Road hauliers have today threatened to mount blockades over rising fuel costs.
Speaking this morning, Irish Road Haulage Association (IRHA) National President Jimmy Quinn said that "all options" were on the cards "if people didn't get their skates on".
He said the industry was in a “crisis not seen since the 1970s” and that some hauliers could go out of business in a matter of weeks. He called on the Government to engage in some fresh thinking and creativity on the fuel crisis.
Mr Quinn warned that while the IRHA had no gripe with customers or commuters, all options would be considered if the situation continued to worsen. "We're talking about the most serious situation this country has ever seen", he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Hauliers wanted to look at the possibility of imposing a fuel surcharge and for the Government to provide a tax rebate on fuel in order to help businesses hit by soaring fuel costs, Mr Quinn said.
At a meeting of the IRHA in Portlaoise last night, Mr Quinn warned the blocking of ports could take place after June 27th if talks with exporters had not taken place by then.
Mr Quinn also criticised the "corporate bullying" of big customers who have been calling on hauliers to reduce their rates. “There is a bunch of people in the purchasing sections of big corporations that make Michael O’Leary look like an altar boy”, he said this morning.
Mr Quinn said today that “bully boy tactics” have to end because business is only good if both parties can walk away with something to show for it.
Despite a rise of over 20 per cent in diesel costs in the first five months of this year, customers are contacting hauliers asking them to provide their services for less at the same time as being told by the Government to increase their prices because of a free market, he said in Portlaoise.
Mary Clifford, a member of the management committee of the IRHA, described the mood at the meeting in Portlaoise as very militant. However, she said that in the first instance the Association would seek an immediate meeting with the Minister for Transport on the issue of a fuel surcharge.
She said the industry was on its knees and Government needed to sit up and take notice before the situation deteriorated even further.
Fishermen protesting soaring fuel costs and importation quotas yesterday suspended a blockade at Cork Port after the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries agreed to meet with the Federation of Irish Fishermen to discuss the crisis.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spanish, French, and Portuguese truck drivers blocked roads earlier in the week over rocketing global fuel prices.