Ireland is yet another country grappling with a driver shortage crisis. Today, industry group Freight Transport Association Ireland (FTAI) called on the government to make changes in legislation that would make it easier to get more qualified drivers back on the country’s roads.
Aidan Flynn, General Manager at FTAI, has followed the RHA in blaming Covid-19 for a fall in the driver pool. In a statement, Flynn said that many drivers had either changed profession or moved back to their home countries since the pandemic began.
According to Flynn, this is “creating unsustainable recruitment problems for a sector on which all areas of our economy relies, and an ever-decreasing pool of workers means that gaps will soon start to appear in our supply chain.”
The FTAI General Manager then went on to explain what he would like the government to do to help alleviate the driver shortage:
“To ease the skills shortage, FTAI is asking Government to provide a temporary derogation to attract these drivers back into temporary employment and allow them drive for hire and reward while they are waiting to refresh their professional driver training qualification – the CPC. This would be great help to our members and industry where some employees have full licences, but they do not have an up to date driver’s card.”
Flynn also highlighted that the delay in testing has also created a problem:
“Meanwhile, we have received reports that some of our members are having to wait over 50 weeks to complete the tests that would enable them to drive professionally. All drivers must undertake these tests to ensure safe and professional operations but they can be updated at the same time as driving. Without addressing the skills shortage, business costs are likely to rise, causing a significant hike in prices for haulage services. Regrettably, the net result of this will be significant cost increases for the consumer. Everything that can be done needs to be done now, to try and remove the barriers to entry for the haulage sector and encourage those that have full driving licences back into the industry, even temporarily to protect the nation’s supply chain.”
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