The Irish road haulage industry is warning disruptions from post-Brexit customs and imports controls at Irish Sea ports will have “catastrophic consequences”.
Irish Road Haulage Association president Eugene Drennan will tell the Oireachtas transport committee on Wednesday the next four weeks will be “a period of unprecedented disruption for the movement of goods”.
The disruption new border checks at ports will cause to the transport industry will be “immense” and have “the capacity to bring the licensed haulage industry to a standstill”, he will say.
He will call for a single State entity to take responsibility for traffic movement in and around Dublin Port or else it will face “uncoordinated chaos”.
The Government should use “statutory powers” to force shipping companies to stagger ferry arrivals to avoid congestion from checks, he will say.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said on Tuesday he hoped there would be some clarity on a Brexit deal by the weekend and that he was more optimistic than a week ago that British and European Union negotiators can reach agreement.
“I would like hopefully by the weekend that we would have clarity around this and certainly it's important that we do get some clarity so that we can then get any deal that might come over the line ratified,” Mr Martin told Virgin Media News.
