Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I am glad that the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, is in the House to hear our contributions. I hope he notes them and brings the message back to his senior Minister. This is the place that counts — or should count if we live in a democracy. Opinions are expressed here and Ministers are responsible to the House. The Minister is not responsible to the pressure groups that he loves to meet. He loves to have the cameras and the pretty girls in attendance; he uses them at every launch. While I am disappointed that the Minister is not in the House, I know that the Minister of State will report back to him.

The purpose of the Bill is to bring in more tax. With its 5% increase across the board, it imposes more tax on the poor motorist. The Government says it is doing so much for ordinary people and made a song and dance about what it spends on social welfare. They did not tell the people that they were going to increase car tax. This is on top of other taxes imposed on motorists. VRT is extremely high in this State. While people talk about being in the EU, it has no effect when it comes to vehicles. Ireland has one of the highest charges for vehicles in the EU. What about buying goods in another EU country? One can buy what one likes, but Ireland will crease one with VRT when one returns here with a car purchased in another EU state.

Why can we not have the famous level playing pitch that people keep talking about? We cannot because the Government wants more tax and to cripple the motorist. One need only consider the taxes applied to diesel and petrol — increases were applied to these in the last budget. Time after time, the poor motorist is being hit. The NCT seems to be a money-raising venture. One will hear of the minute reasons for which cars have been failed. Owners must go back, pay the fee — that is the important thing — and the car will be passed immediately. It is another tax on motorists.

The Minister of State lives in a city and has buses running past his doorstep that will carry him where he needs to go. If he needs to use the post office, there will be one within a bus ride, if not within walking distance. Similarly, Garda stations and Government services are within easy reach by foot or bus. This is not the case in rural areas. Many pensioners have to travel eight or ten miles to collect their pension at the local post office. While the Minister of State might say that they should have it paid by standing order into their bank accounts, pensioners will still have to travel to the local town to use an ATM. Public transport is inadequate in many places and they need to have their own vehicles. Many people cannot access services locally because the Government is closing post offices and Garda stations, etc. It is not fair that this additional tax should be imposed on them.

When one consider the taxes imposed on vehicles, the cost of the NCT and thinks of the income some elderly people are living on, one will think it is too high considering the few miles they travel each week. They use the vehicle to travel to the nearby town to collect the pension, shop for groceries and attend Mass. It is not fair to increase motor tax by 5% in a country where having one's own transport has become so important.

The explanatory memorandum states that since the start of the local government fund in January 1999, all motor tax receipts, including driver licence fees, are paid into the fund. Furthermore, the memorandum states that the fund is ring-fenced exclusively for local authority purposes and is distributed to local authorities in respect of discretionary grants in respect of day to day spending requirements and for expenditure on non-national roads. While many people think this money is used solely on roads, it is not the case; it is used for a variety of services across the local authority sector. One will hear people justifying the rise by saying extra money will be made available for roads. This money should be ring-fenced for roads and ensure they are brought up to standard. Many of our roads are in poor condition and special measures must be taken to bring them up to standard.

I have a bee in my bonnet regarding speed limits at schools. I am sure the Minister of State has been to the United States. If he has, he may have seen the special speed areas outside schools. At school opening and closing times a speed limit of 15 mph is put in place, signalled by flashing lights. Anyone who breaks this is treated quite severely. We need to something like this here. Coralstown national school is adjacent to the N4 near Mullingar. Parents transporting their children to and from school must park on the side of this national primary route where the speed limit is 60 mph. While flashing lights are in place there, they do not seem to have any effect. We are lucky in that we have not yet had a major problem there. This is the type of area where a pilot scheme with special provisions could be put in place. I am looking for this at school opening and closing times, and I hope the Minister will take note of my request. Coralstown is the famous school that hit the airwaves. One of my colleagues delivered around this time last year a letter and a photograph with the Minister to the school. He was going to deliver money for the school, which was to be built and opened. The money had been "ring-fenced" — that famous word which I see here in the explanatory memorandum.

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