Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. In the current economic climate, all opportunities for tax evasion must be examined and countered. I believe that up to €50 million annually may be lost to the country as a result of false declarations of non-use of motor vehicles and, therefore, the Bill is a common sense approach to closing that loophole. The decline in car ownership reflects the difficulty in which many people find themselves and it is worth considering the increased costs which rural living puts on families, the increased cost of sending children to school, fuel costs for weekly shopping and any extra curricular activities in which children are involved. Less well-off families cannot afford new cars and thus find themselves driving pre-2008 cars with high motor tax. These families are already in distress and are finding it difficult to cope. That is the reason I believe it is imperative that should be no fee should the need arise for them to make a declaration of non-use. Families are already swamped with the number and nature of fees to be paid and if they comply with all regulations by making the declaration of non-use, no fee should apply.

This Administration came into Government at a time when the country's finances were in the mire and it has had to take many difficult decisions in an effort to get the country back on track, to stop racking up the huge debts that had been added to daily life and to carve a leaner and more cost-effective method of governing the country. In order to do that, spending had to be reduced and income, through taxes, increased. However, prior to the Government taking office, too many charges were put in place by people with little or no understanding of how life is on the ground. It should be taken into consideration that for families living in a rural area a car is not a luxury, it is a necessity.

In regard to detection of motor tax evasion I do not believe it should be contracted out to a private firm. While Garda resources are stretched, the Garda come face to face, on a daily basis, with people in great emotional and economic distress and at the current juncture it would be injudicious to contract this work out. Motorists who are caught for motor tax evasion should at least be met in person. I believe that increasing the work of the mobile speed detector vans to encompass motor tax evasion would be counterproductive. Advertisements are running to try to increase public support for the placement of mobile speed check vans. The rationale is that they are placed at locations where there have been serious accidents. Of, course, this is not always the case. I have had many complaints from the people of Mountbellew, County Galway, about the constant presence of speed vans on the N63 approach to the town from the Galway side. On investigation with the Road Safety Authority it appears that, as a result of accidents that occur at the junction in the centre of Moylough, a neighbouring town, because there was no place convenient for the speed vans to park in the centre of the village, they were placed just outside the speed limit in Mountbellew. The location where the accidents occur is in the town centre but the speed vans are located just inside the speed limits in a different town.

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