Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I must apologise for Deputy McHugh, who cannot attend as he has been delayed in traffic. He has asked me to speak on his behalf on this matter. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this item. This is the high season for camper vans. If we look at the statistics that the Minister has supplied, we can see that their numbers are steadily declining, from a peak of 1,014 in 2009 to 126 last year. Part of the reason for this is the delay in registering motor homes. I will cite the most recent example that comes to mind. Last week, somebody sought to purchase a camper van from Pat Horan Motors, which was anxious to sell it. The vehicle had to go through the vehicle registration process and was eventually booked in on Friday evening after much pressure. Yesterday, the office was on a two-day week and one person failed to turn up, so there was nobody there in the morning. While somebody came in the evening, this added to the delay. Donaghey Motorhomes told me, through Deputy McHugh, that on 11 March it tried to book a date for a VRT test but received one 14 days later on 25 March. Both sales were lost, which is a loss to the Revenue Commissioners from a VAT perspective. On a sale of €82,000, the VAT lost is in the region of €15,337.

What is happening basically is the middle man is holding up the show. The Minister is interested in creating jobs and we are interested in protecting jobs but the customer service being offered to these dealers is appalling. What does the Minister plan to do to remedy this? Is he prepared to accept the unnecessary delays both in booking a registration and in having to forward documentation to Rosslare? When it eventually reaches Revenue officials, they are efficient in dealing with it. There is a problem and I would like the Minister to deal with it. I am anxious to hear his response to the problem.

See this speech in context