As the Minister is aware, the road hauliers will commit to a 25% reduction in carbon emissions by the end of the decade if the Government agrees to their reasonable demands to reduce operating costs. That argument is understandable. They acknowledge that their sector is a contributor to carbon emissions and accept that action is required. However, they are not in a financial position to take remedial action. The cost of replacing an existing truck with a low-emission vehicle that runs on hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO, fuel currently stands at €160,000. More than 60% of the 38,000 trucks on Irish roads need to be upgraded in order to ensure a reduction in emissions.

Truck owners are asking for a number of concessions to enable the industry to meet its stated objectives. Will the Minister deliver a reduction in excise duty on fuel and increase the essential user rebate? Is he willing to take constructive measures to assist the industry to reduce carbon emissions?

We are working on it. As I said, I met the industry representatives of the Irish Road Haulage Association during the week and we are looking at a whole variety of different options. First and foremost, we need real solid data on the fleet of vehicles here and what the real emissions reductions would be from various measures. That is something we both agreed that we need to do much further work on.

Going back to what I said, European legislation guides and regulates everything in this energy transformation area. The European Union stated it will move away from rebate schemes for any fossil fuel vehicles, even at the Euro 6 level, which are more efficient and have lower emissions standards. The regulations are moving away from that.

The Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and I said that we will continue to work with the association to look to see what other ways we can help people through a difficult time and also make sure that sector contributes, like every other sector, to our climate targets.