It was with great disappointment that we learnt last week that the government has sold legitimate tyre retailers down the Swanee yet again!
The Government's''Closing the Gap'' strategy was hoped to be the tyre industry's biggest chance to see meaningful legislation brought forward to ban the importation and sale of part worn tyres in Ireland.
Instead the Government has opted to kick the can down the road. This decision comes despite warnings regarding safety, VAT evasion and the threat to jobs in legitimate retailers.
It beggars belief that such warnings have seemingly been ignored. The Department of Transport has let us down. However we must not give up.
Perhaps a different angle and approach may yield positive results for us.
Surely there must be something that can be done at a European level to stop the transportation of what is effectively environmentally hazardous waste? Adjunct to that, there is probably an angle regarding consumer rights here. If a consumer is being asked to pay a fee for ''environmental disposal''every time a tyre is removed, then surely the he/she is entitled to have that service supplied. Tyres which are removed, sold on again and removed at the end of their ''second life'' are having the so called ''disposal'' fee applied twice.
At Heffernan tyres we welcome our customers to check our environmental credentials. All of our removed tyres are sent to Crumb Rubber where they are recycled for use in playground surfaces, equestrian centres, etc. We will continue through our presence on the board of ITIA (Irish Tyre Industry Association) to lobby for change in the trade of second hand tyres in Ireland. That is our commitment to environment and safety.
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