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

Indeed. This is a global deception and many people have been affected for different reasons. Many were customers of the Volkswagen group given the lower emission levels advertised for its vehicles and that environmental issues were an important consideration when purchasing. Ireland has a taxation regime that is based on low emissions. It has been compromised. I am a customer of the group. My car is not affected because it is an older vehicle and I pay a higher rate of tax on it based on its stated emissions, as many do. However, there are those who pay less and the State gets a smaller tax take because of the group's declared emissions. Have the implications of this been addressed and quantified by the group in partnership with the State or another agency? Has work begun on determining how the emission figures will impact on the Exchequer, the customer and the group? What other EU countries have similar emissions-based taxation systems? Has that issue been quantified? I hope Mr. Himmer will tell us that work has begun as there is a great deal more to be done as regards the emissions figures that this State must regularly audit and present to the Commission. This will have major implications for the State.

There will also be issues for the markets and business confidence in this and most countries where the group operates as well as for the group's companies and their staff, both those who are directly employed by those companies and those who are indirectly employed throughout the country and whose business depends on sales that are based on the group's supposedly genuine information. Has Volkswagen conducted a study of this impact? The implications arise from a deception that was meant to gain a competitive edge over other manufacturers. That stance is unjustifiable.