Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this topic for discussion and I am very glad the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes, is in the House to reply. I raise the issue of licence plates because we are coming close to January which is the busiest time for our motor trade. There are serious concern in the industry that this will be another year of declining sales and declining trade. We have seen the effects of the recession over the past fives on the motor trade. Driving around Ashbourne or Drogheda five years ago, all the licence plates were 07 and 08 and they still are all 07 and 08 because the trade in new vehicles has declined.

The figures we have seen are very worrying. New car sales are down by more than 50% in the past five years. Commercial vehicle sales are down by 72% and the industry is looking at the new year and wondering what the future has in store for it. There are two key concerns for the industry. The first is the impact of additional taxation in next month's budget and the second is the new year's licence plate.

Each year we issue one licence plate at the beginning of the year in January. We front-load all the vehicle sales to January, February and March and if one looks at the figures for each year, that contention is borne out. For instance, last year, 21,000 cars were sold in January but only 4,000 were sold in July. The UK had a similar problem to this a few years ago but it changed its system, so it now issues new licence plates in January and in July. That has led to an increase in demand but also a flattening out over the year. One of the reasons for that is the dual registration system.

Some 60% of our sales are in January, February and March of each year. That should be changed. If we introduced a system where we issued two licence plates, one in January and one in July, it would give the motor trade much more flexibility in planning things like staff and for the year's trade. Will the Minister look at that? I brought this up last year and I was told he would consider it. The Minister has had consultations on the issue since then and I hope something will be done in next month's budget.

Will the Minister of State let us know the current state of play? Is this something which will be considered because the motor trade wants it? I do not think any of us can see any reason we should not introduce it.

See this speech in context