Strokestown, Co. Roscommon haulier Vincent Caulfield assumed presidency of the IRHA at its annual conference, which was held in Cork over the Easter weekend. Caulfield, who took over from Co. Clare haulier Eamonn Morrissey is anxious to raise the profile of the association amongst hauliers and the reputation of the industry with the general public during his stint.

Hailing from the construction sector, Caulfield will be targeting his peers to boost membership of the association, which currently stands at about 1,400. "I will be extremely disappointed if I cannot significantly increase the membership over the next year or two. To that end I will be targeting the owner operator sector, especially construction hauliers" he commented.

He added, "I want to see a big increase in the membership. There was a view that the association was only for international hauliers. That couldn't be further from the truth. The association is for hauliers working in all sectors of the industry."

Given the disparate nature of the sector, Caulfield admits that increasing membership will be a difficult task. Consequently, he is willing to explore all avenues that might lead to an increase in members.

He noted, "Perhaps we need a better way of getting our message across to hauliers. Most of the time the media isn't interested in what we are doing unless we are blocking roads or threatening all out strikes. But we need to get our message across to hauliers. If we can do that, we will also increase our membership."

If the association could double its membership in the next two years, its bargaining position at Government level would be considerably increased, according to Caulfield.

"They know our relative strength. If we had 4,000 or 5,000 members they would have to sit up and take notice of us. Increasing membership would certainly strengthen our hand," he quipped.

Caulfield would also like to raise the profile of the industry amongst other road users, who at best see truckers as a "necessary evil".

"We certainly wouldn't be flavour of the month with other road users, but we are playing a vital role in the economy, and it would be important to get that message across," he asserted.

"Junior Transport Minister Ivor Callely conceded that the haulage industry has played and will continue a vital role to play in the Irish economy, when he addressed the IRHA conference at Easter," Caulfield noted. He added, "We need to get that message across to the general public."

Caulfield's appointment as IRHA president coincided with the launch of the IRHA / Department of Transport 22-point action plan, which aims to stabilise and regulate the licensed haulage sector.

The new strategy will target unlicensed hauliers and the consignors who use them. "Unlicensed licensed haulage is a huge problem especially in the construction sector. These people are cutting corners, working cheaper and depressing the rates. We hope the new 22-point action plan will go a long way to alleviating the problem," he concluded.