Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I also welcome the Bill and I support any measure designed to improve our environment. The Bill goes a long way towards addressing that. The purpose of the Bill is to provide a permanent legislative basis for motor tax increases, effective from 1 February 2008 and under a financial resolution passed by the Dáil on 5 December 2007, and to provide for a new motor tax system based on CO2 emissions for new and pre-owned imported cars registered after 1 July 2008. I welcome the Bill because Fine Gael proposed similar measures in its 2007 election manifesto, when we promised to reform VRT. I am pleased the Government has taken this on board.

I owned a 2001 registered Audi A6, even though I was always one of those who thought cars were a waste of money. However, I was doing 40,000 miles a year driving around the country in this car, and it cost me about €10,000 every year to fill it with petrol. I was spending €70 on petrol about three times a week, so it was expensive. I have since bought an Audi A4 diesel car, which only cost €150 in tax and it costs me less than €5,000 to run every year. I am pleasantly surprised at that, but I am also delighted that I am doing something to help the environment. It is a comfortable vehicle. The cost of running a car is less of an issue now that oil prices are falling. What I save on petrol prices covers my monthly repayments for the car.

I would like to be able to go without a car, but I live three miles from the nearest town and driving to Dublin is welcome, as I can use the phone in the car.

Today, for example, I might have to go to two or three funerals or meetings around the country. Sometimes using public transport, although I love to do so, can be less than convenient, especially in rural counties like Roscommon, where there are no direct links with the county town, although there are direct links with Dublin. I welcome what Deputy Scanlon said regarding the eight trains per day running between Dublin and Sligo. If the Government invests in the public transport system, people will use it.

I am very upset about the new €10 airport tax. Knock Airport is 25 minutes from my house and I like to use and support that airport whenever I can. If one takes a flight from Knock Airport to any destination, one pays a departure tax of €10. This is a tax that is unique to Knock and the money raised is used to improve the infrastructure at the airport. A development programme costing €2 million is under way there at present. Using the airport at Knock means I do not have to drive to Dublin, use the M50 or pay the exorbitant parking charges at Dublin Airport. In general, people support the €10 departure tax and do not mind paying it. Indeed, it has been in place for many years. However, the new airport tax is anti-west of Ireland and anti-seaboard airports. The Government must roll back on this ill-conceived tax.

I took a flight from Knock to Manchester a number of weeks ago to attend a function organised by the Manchester Roscommon London Association. I left in the evening and returned the following morning. Under the new tax regime, if I chose to fly from Dublin Airport, I would have paid €8 less. Two weeks ago I flew from Knock to London to attend a function organised by the London Roscommon Association. Again, I travelled over in the evening, attended the function and flew back the following morning. Under the new airport tax regime, the flight from Knock will cost €8 more than from Dublin, on top of the €10 departure tax one already pays.at Knock. Under the new system, there is no incentive to support regional airports.

The regional airports have some of the best management teams in the country. This is true of Sligo, Galway and particularly Knock. Ireland West Airport has probably the best management team in the country. It has worked against stiff opposition to bring the airport up to a level of which people in the west can be proud. I ask the Minister of State to relay to the Government that the new airport tax should be reversed. It is anti-west of Ireland and anti-rural.

I am my party's spokesperson on school transport in the Dáil. Last March, school transport for a junior cycle student cost €99 per year. Following the budget, however, there are three different charges and the same transport will now cost €300, which is an increase of 203%. When I asked the Minister if there would be a cap on that amount, he could not guarantee it. While I appreciate that school transport is difficult and expensive to provide, the new charges are exorbitant. An increase of 203% in 30 weeks is over the top. It is anti-family, anti-rural and possibly anti-environment.

Let us take the example of the parents of two school-going children living over three miles from the nearest school. Instead of paying €198 per year for school transport, they will now have to pay €600. If there are children living next door, the chances are that the parents in both families will opt to take turns to drive the children to school in their cars or SUVs. The increase in the price of school transport may lead to more car journeys. Was this change properly thought out? The Green Party, in particular, should examine this anomaly. I have no doubt that many parents will not spend €600 or more on school transport every year. Instead, they will choose to drive their children to school, thus increasing traffic on the roads.

In planning new housing estates in urban areas, local authorities should ensure that it will be possible for young children to walk or cycle to school. Many schools are becoming more aware of transport issues and organise events such as no car days to encourage pupils to walk to school. Those types of initiatives should be encouraged.

In the past, school transport operators received a rebate, worth up to €30 million per year. However, the rebate system fell foul of EU legislation and was discontinued. The Government said that it would put an alternative mechanism in place. However, after 18 months we found out that the Government had no intention of replacing the rebate with any other system. Many school transport operators had been factoring in the rebate when submitting tenders to Bus Éireann. The operators felt very aggrieved and let down. The cost of petrol and diesel has dropped in recent times, which is welcome but that may only be a temporary situation. If fuel costs rise again, the operators will not be able to fall back on a rebate. If the money is not available, that is fine, but the operators should be told that clearly. The Government should not be pointing the finger at the EU and blaming it for the problem. Nor should it be promising to put an alternative mechanism in place when it has no intention of doing so. School bus operators are rightly very aggrieved with the measure and the misinformation surrounding it.

Reference has been made to the new car parking tax, which I believe will apply to Leinster House. If I choose to drive from Roscommon to Dublin, there are no park and ride facilities on the N4 that I could use. There is nowhere on the outskirts of Dublin that I could park my car, take a bus to the city centre, conduct my business, take another bus back to my car and drive home.

The tax is set at €200 per year. I remember several years ago there was a furore when the chief executive of Ryanair, Mr. Michael O'Leary, announced that he had bought a taxi plate to allow him to drive in bus lanes. Taxi plates cost between €3,000 and €5,000. What is there to stop other people buying such plates in order to be able to use bus lanes and avoid paying the car parking tax? I do not know if taxis will be exempt from the parking tax. If taxis are exempt from the parking tax, then people could save €200 per year by buying a plate.

Much more thought must be put into the car parking tax. I hope it will not penalise unduly those who must use car parking spaces. I have no problem with paying €200 per year for a car parking space if necessary but I would like to see other measures put in place that would allow me to use public transport if I so wished. It may turn out to be cheaper for me and others like me to buy a taxi plate. I might even pick up the odd fare or two.

Last week, I drove to Wexford. The people of Wexford gave me a warm welcome and I had a very pleasant trip.

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