Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)

A parliamentary question I asked of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, on 25 May uncovered two rather startling pieces of information. First, the value of off-the-road vehicle declarations for the 15 month period between May 2009 to July 2010 was over €94 million. This would equate to roughly €76 million per annum. Off-the-road vehicle declarations occur where the owner of a vehicle makes a statement, verified by the Garda, that the vehicle was not driven on the road for a period of time. Given the approximate €76 million per annum value, a substantial number of vehicles are being declared as off-the-road.

According to a report produced by the Dublin Motor Tax Office, 27% of the total number of vehicles registered in Monaghan in 2008 were declared off road for part of that year. The figure for the Dublin area was about 12%. In the motor tax office in Nutgrove, County Dublin, over 12,000 vehicles were declared as being off the road for part of the year in 2008. The figure for County Galway in the same period was 22,500. It is hard to credit that all these were genuine cases of vehicles being off the road.

Second, an off-the-road declaration for any month can only be accepted after that month has ended. This surely makes it possible to say that a vehicle has been off the road when it might not have been so.

I call on the Minister to do three things. First, he must take steps to review the procedure as soon as possible. I understand from the answer to a parliamentary question that he intends to do so. Second, he must introduce a better system, such as that which operates in Switzerland. In that country, when a vehicle is declared off the road, the tax disc is returned to the local authority for the period the vehicle is off the road. Third, if extra revenue comes in as a result of the reform, the benefit should be passed on to compliant motor tax payers in the form of lower motor tax.

One reason I raise this issue is because local authorities receive the money collected from motor tax through the local government fund. With streams of finance to local authorities in serious decline, it is important that levels of motor tax income are maintained. For example, my county of South Dublin, which includes Lucan, Clondalkin, Tallaght and Templeogue, has a population of about 250,000 and it received €24.29 million in 2010. The current yearly rate of motor tax being lost would fund three such councils, so I would appreciate it if the Minister addressed those issues.

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