Hauliers can still apply for emergency support and receive a payment of €800, according to Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton.
The application deadline for the Licensed Haulage Emergency Support Scheme has been extended until Monday, June 6, 2022.
The scheme provides a payment of €100 per week for a period of eight weeks to every eligible heavy goods vehicle (over 3.5 tonnes), as listed on a road haulage operator’s licence as of March 11, 2022.
One payment is being made to each eligible operator covering the eight-weeks support, for which applicants must meet all the following criteria:
- Applicants must hold a valid road haulage operator licence issued by the Road Transport Operator Licensing Unit in accordance with section two of the Road Traffic and Transport Act 2006;
- Applicants must be operating as a going concern;
- Applicants must confirm that the business has not commenced (or does not intend to commence) any steps to insolvency/liquidation proceedings;
- Applicants must be established and registered for tax in the state, with current tax clearance status;
- Applicants may only apply for aid in respect of vehicles authorised on their road haulage licence as of March 11, 2022.
Minister of State with special responsibility for haulage and logistics, Hildegarde Naughton said that some 900 licensed hauliers have not yet applied for support. She added:
“The haulage sector has shown incredible resilience throughout the unprecedented challenges presented by Brexit and Covid-19 in recent years, ensuring that the shelves in our supermarkets and pharmacies do not run empty.”
To date, payments of over €13 million have been issued to more than 2,800 operators under the scheme, according to Minister Ryan.
The scheme was announced in March this year to provide financial support to the licensed haulage sector, in response to high fuel costs associated with the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Officials in the Department of Transport will now write to each operator at their registered address in order to offer them a final opportunity to make an application, Minister of State Naughton said.