Mr. Donal Enright:

The Commissioner is correct in saying that the Non-Use of Motor Vehicles Bill, which we colloquially refer to as the gapping Bill, will address many of these problems. At the moment a person can walk into a Garda station and get his or her signature witnessed that his or her car was off the road and thereby avoid having to pay arrears for motor tax. If and when the Bill becomes law, a person will be able to make a declaration directly, not involving the Garda or any other mechanism, if he or she wishes to keep his or her car off the road. There could be reasons such as travelling abroad, illness, or the car needing to go in for repair, or it may be a vintage vehicle that is not used very often. There could be dozens of reasons a person wants to keep a car off the road. As long as a person gives that notification in advance he or she will not be liable for arrears.

If a person does not give that notice in advance and presents to pay tax, the facility to go into a Garda station will be gone so that person will have to pay the arrears. There will be no question of not paying arrears if the person has avoided paying the tax and avoided making a declaration that the car would be off the road. Should a person be caught having made a declaration that his or her car would be off the road and it is subsequently found to be on the road, that will be a new offence. In addition to driving the car without tax, he or she would be liable for a separate penalty.

A person who has made an off-road declaration but decides to put the car back on the road within the period of the declaration, which could be up to a year, will be able to tax the car immediately. There would be no difficulty with the person paying his or her tax and putting the car back on the road. He or she would pay the tax from the start of the current month and would not be liable for arrears because of having made an off-road declaration, as required. That is the system, in essence, and it excludes the Garda from the process and reduces the opportunity for people to evade paying their tax. It is anticipated that the additional moneys to be collected will be approximately €50 million to €55 million per annum once the system is in use.