Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I want to highlight three issues during my brief contribution to this debate. I will start by explaining why the Bill before the House represents hypocrisy at its worst. There will be a referendum on the Lisbon treaty soon. We will tell the people of this country that the European Union has been great for Ireland. We were told during previous EEC and EU referendums that people would be given the right to free movement within the EU. I thought this legislation would allow people to import cars from other EU member states. If the Government wants people to vote in favour of the Single Market, why does it not allow Irish citizens to cross the Border, within their own country, to buy cars and bring them back to this jurisdiction? Why are people not allowed to bring cars back from England or Germany without being taxed by our Government? If we do not allow people to act in such a manner, we are not providing for free movement or a Single Market. The market is being hindered by the taxes being imposed by the Government.

I will return to the Single Market in a moment. The most important point I want to make relates to people who bought environmentally friendly cars with low CO2 emissions in January 2008. I want to explain this point to those Fianna Fáil backbenchers who will speak out of both sides of their mouths during this debate — they will tell us what is wrong before voting tonight with the Minister, Deputy Gormley, and the Green Party. They will turn yellow when faced with the Greens. I will outline the problem. I want the departmental officials who are present to listen to what I have to say. This is wrong. When the Revenue Commissioners find something wrong, they address it by following people and making sure they get the taxes for the State.

I refer to people who have recently bought emission-friendly cars and taxed them for the year. When they tax the same car next year, they will not get any benefits from the legislation before the House. They will be taxed the same way in 2009 as they are being taxed in 2008. There will be a knock-on effect when they try to trade the car in at a garage. The owner of the garage will say he has to take €5,000 off the value of the car because the Minister created an anomaly in this legislation. If the garage sells the car to Joe Soap, he will have to pay tax on it at the higher rate. In a few years' time, garages will have hundreds of new and second-hand cars to which the lower tax rate will have applied from July 2008. That anomaly needs to be corrected. It is very simple. It is wrong. If it is wrong, it should be corrected in this legislation.

The Government is great at taking tax off people, but it needs to be just as efficient in correcting the anomaly I have highlighted. As Deputy Bannon said, people will cross the Border to buy second-hand cars. It is very simple. After July of this year, the lower tax rate will apply in this jurisdiction to cars with low emissions which were taxed in Northern Ireland prior to July 2008 before being brought to the South. It is daft. A person who lived within the law by buying an environmentally friendly car will pay the higher rate of tax on that car from next year. This anomaly is caused by an error in the legislation. The Government should ensure that people do not have to go to court to sort this problem out.

The faults in this legislation can be sorted out on Committee Stage if the Government introduces the necessary amendments. It is very simple. If it is wrong today and tomorrow, it will be wrong next week if it is not corrected. Fianna Fáil backbenchers should not tell us what the problem is — we know what the problem is. They should make that point to the Minister, Deputy Gormley, who represents Fianna Fáil's partners in Government. The Green Party is the partner Fianna Fáil never wanted. I am sure Deputy Fleming remembers when Fianna Fáil used to issue statements claiming that the Green Party would be bad for the economy and bad for rural Ireland. The Greens were not bad when Fianna Fáil was looking for a coalition partner, however. They were okay then. Everything was fine then. The Minister should correct this aspect of the legislation because it is wrong.

The final point I wish to make relates to road safety. Perhaps the Minister, the Government and the officials in the Department can address it. We are familiar with the proposal to establish a fund to raise money for local authorities. Local authorities have no money. The increase in the funds they have been given this year will be cancelled out by inflation and wage increases. There will be no money left for expenditure on roads. Can the Minister, Deputy Gormley, explain what we have got against putting up signage in this country? I can give Deputy Fleming an example that relates to his constituency. I accept that great work is being done as part of the road works at Athlone, which will bring people to Dublin more quickly. Many people from County Mayo are confused by the sign at Athlone telling people how to get to Tullamore. I do not know why a sign for Dublin was not put up at the same time. Some poor devil had to get out of his car and take out his paint brush to put the word "Dublin" on a sign. Many people who wanted to go to Dublin were ending up on the road to Tullamore.

Similarly, many people from Mayo and other parts of the country have contacted me to complain about the signs they encounter when they get onto the section of the M50 currently affected by road works. It is a very simple thing. What is wrong with putting up a few signs? I do not see the point of the signs which say "The South" and nothing else. I thought we were in the South. When people get onto the narrow section of road that is under repair, they see signs saying "The South". There are no signs — just arrows — telling them where else they can go. Many people end up having to pay to go over the toll bridge before they get a chance to drive towards the city centre. The Government is great at taking tax revenue from people, but it does not seem to take any responsibility for road safety or road conditions. I do not know why proper signage cannot be erected in Dublin and every other city, town and village in the country. What is wrong? Do we not want people to know what we have in this country? Do we not want them to know where they are going? Is it not very simple to put up a sign? What is wrong in this country that we cannot put up signage?

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