Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Chairman, I am getting really frustrated by this. We had this situation in respect of the commercial rates a couple of weeks ago as well. People in the Departments are surely painting pictures for Ministers. If the Comptroller and Auditor General is pointing out that income from this source is going to drop by a quarter of a billion over the coming years, someone somewhere is surely putting together a document describing scenarios, X, Y and Z that Departments are considering to raise revenues. We are underfunded in this area to begin with. If a quarter of a billion in motor tax goes off the books, it is a big issue. If no one in here thinks so, that in itself is an even bigger problem. Given that the Comptroller and Auditor General has flagged the decrease, what scenarios have been set out for the relevant Minister to find the money? Is a higher tax on these lower emissions vehicles being considered by the Department?