Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity of speaking on the Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill 2004. Speaking in the House on the Finance Bill recently, I made the point that while we all dislike paying tax, all Deputies would agree that in a caring society people recognise their commitment to fund the Government, particularly in such areas as health, education and social welfare, and the most equitable way of finding the money to do this is through taxation. What we are discussing is a form of tax, but the difference between this and all other forms of tax is that the motor tax intake is ring-fenced.

I had the honour of being elected to Sligo County Council in 1991 and for my first number of years as a county councillor it was cloth and ashes. We were scrabbling, saving and skimping to try to look after our roads. Since 1999, however, when the local government fund was established, the money gathered through motor taxation has come back to the county directly. The amount for use by the county has now been greatly added to by central Government. The result has been a dramatic improvement in our non-national roads. I have listened carefully to the remarks of some of the other Deputies. While much remains to be done for our non-national roads, class 1 and class 2 non-national roads are in infinitely better condition than they were five years ago. It is important that this tax remains ring-fenced so that motorists in Sligo, Wexford or anywhere else know that when they pay their tax the money comes straight back to their counties, with the addition of a substantial amount from central funds.

For many years paying motor tax was an ordeal. People went to their local motor taxation office and queued for hours on end. In some cases in Dublin people queued for more than two days. Over recent years the facility of paying motor tax by post has become available and is now widely used. Since last November the Government, pursuing its e-government strategy, has been running a pilot study in three local authority areas — north Tipperary, Clare and Galway — in which people could pay their motor tax over the Internet from their home PCs. The uptake has been in the region of 6% in the first couple of months. From 1 March this facility will be extended nationwide. This is a positive move.

The Government is committed to making progress in the area of e-government. The Central Statistic Office estimates that there are more than 1.9 million home PCs in this country. This initiative will result in even shorter queues in motor tax offices. Up to now there have been few problems with the pilot scheme. Ireland is one of the first countries in Europe to embark on this. We are the envy of the United Kingdom, which makes a nice change, as for many years we slavishly followed its lead in many areas. It is nice to know that we are now leading the way. The model used here is based on a system which is widely used in Australia. The Government is to be commended for making this option available to everybody from 1 March.

Few of the previous speakers referred to the content of the Bill. I am sure Members would agree that the return of the moneys raised in motor taxation to the county of origin is the most important aspect and it is something I applaud. I commend the Bill to the House.

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