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Government must put its money where its mouth is for zero-carbon, says FTAI

[ August 20, 2024   //   ]

The Irish government must  provide financial support and incentives for the transport and logistics sector if its ambitions to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 are to be achieved, said FTA Ireland in its submission ahead of the country’s budget on 1 October.

FTAI chief executive Aidan Flynn, said that the biggest pressure on the bottom line of many transport and logistics businesses is the demand to decarbonise and while the industry is committed to playing its part in a net zero future, this cannot happen without government support and guidance.

He said: “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.”

“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.”

https://ftai.ie/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2025-fta-ireland-pre-budget-submission.pdf

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