Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Department's position on tractors, scooters and the other aspects we have discussed.

Mr. Treacy mentioned that tractors must be used solely for agriculture, forestry, horticulture and fisheries. I presume that will apply when two such activities are combined, for example, the tractors might be used for agriculture and horticulture.

Second, I presume that the regulation would not adversely affect the competitiveness of this country versus other member states in terms of agri-horticulture or even commercial vehicles on the road, that we will not over egg the pudding in terms of roadside and annual testing. I hope we will not make Ireland less competitive than other EU states in this regard. I am concerned that we could spawn a new industry. We already have the NCT testing, but it would be onerous for commercial users to undergo further testing. Are we building a new industry based on testing, which will be expensive and could make our industry uncompetitive?

In regard to odometer fraud, could we incorporate a mileage reading when a vehicle is taxed, be it every three months, six months or 12 months and record the mileage on the motor tax application form? The odometer readings could be made available publicly to the consumers. It would be very simple to fill in a box that requested the mileage in a motor tax form, whether it be online or a paper form and give the figure when paying the motor tax. The information could be recorded on a database.