David Norris (Independent)

Many people buy old cars and then find the tax is very high. I pay about half what I paid for the car in tax and that is daft. To increase it further is not necessarily an environmentally friendly measure because, for example, I do not use the car all that much. I used to cycle to Leinster House until I was knocked off my bicycle in O'Connell Street, which is extremely dangerous, as we know. The improvements to the visual aspects of O'Connell Street have actually made it more dangerous, as witnessed by the bus crash the day before yesterday. Therefore I will not be cycling down O'Connell Street if I can possibly avoid it, especially because the compensation one gets for being knocked off is not all that great. The last time I got less than €1,000, and I am not risking my life for that.

A number of people have these large cars and not because they are antagonistic to green issues. In fact the green issues and the environment would be better served by putting a tax on petrol. The possession of a car of whatever size does not affect the environment. What does are the emissions. I am out of the country for four months of the year. For four months of the year that car is immobile and yet I pay this enormous amount of tax. I happen to love it and believe it will be a classic car if I can afford to keep it. We should look at the question of putting a tax on petrol rather than increasing motor tax on large cars because that is when the polluter pays. If one does a lazy accounting exercise and simply increases the tax on a car just because it is large, regardless of whether it is used, that is inefficient. If the tax is put on petrol every time a car is taken out of the garage, someone pays, but in proportion to the expulsion of fumes from the vehicle.