Denis Landy (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I do not want to go over the ground that has been covered and, therefore, I will deal with only a few issues. I welcome the legislation. It makes a good deal of sense. I come from rural Ireland like the Minister of State and travel lesser roads to get on to good roads. I travel many bad roads to get on to the motorways. Funding is needed to repair the roads, particularly following the weather last winter.

I would like question the Minister of State a little on the opportunities the Bill will provide for people in this area. He referred to the fact that there will be no administrative fee under the legislation to have this facility covered provided. If there is not be a fee, there should be a requirement that people would have to prove that what they say is genuine. The current position is that people can make a declaration regarding the non-use of their vehicle at their local Garda station. From the statistics we have been given, more than half a million people called to Garda stations in 2012 to declare that their car was off the road for so many months and they were credited for that and basically got away with it. If a fee is not to be charged, could there be a link with the insurance provider such that the insurance certificate provided by the insurance company would state that the car insurance premium was put on hold for a period because the policyholder went abroad, was ill or whatever the reason may be in order that there should be some type of a verification system? People will continue to try it on and such evasion amounts to €50 million per annum in loss revenue.

I support what Senator Mooney said about the transfer of the licence function from the local authorities to the RSA. I have spoken on that previously in the House and I do not support it. It will constitute a diminution in the powers of local government and local authorities. I want to put on the record that I believe it is a retrograde step.

I wish to ask the Minister of State about the provision to be able to declare the non-use of a vehicle for a period between three months and 12 months. A person could have his or her vehicle off the road for two months while he or she was being hospitalised and no account can be taken off that. I would like the Minister to reconsider that provision.

The Bill provides that a person can drive his or her car to have an NCT carried out or to take it to the garage in preparation for the NCT.

That is a loophole. There is an opportunity for a person to set the date for the NCT, to move it forward by way of a telephone call, use the car to go to the garage on the day he or she is stopped and have a text to show the Garda the car is being taken to the garage as the NCT is due. The legislation allows for that. There is a need for a proviso to tighten the legislation in this area.

I wish to refer to the amount of money that is being lost in this area. A survey conducted on the M50 on four dates between 2010 and 2011 on the M50, as mentioned by Senator Cáit Keane, showed that 5% of vehicles had no tax for at least a month. When those figures were followed up we did not see the same number of tax evasion cases coming forward. In 2012, the Garda witnessed more than 500,000 off-the-road vehicles. Yet when we look at the figures, they do not stack up. Something appears to be going on.

This takes me to the next issue, the certificate of destruction. As the issue was discussed in the other House, the Minister will be familiar with what I am talking about. In 2009 only 21,000 certificates of destruction were issued, while it is estimated that in the same year 150,000 cars were taken off the road. That means that approximately 130,000 vehicles are unaccounted for, some of which, as Senator Cáit Keane said, could be in Granny's shed or elsewhere, but they are certainly unaccounted for in the system. That is not good enough. We need to find out where these vehicles are. Are they the vehicles that young men and women buy for €50 each, drive for two or three days, abandon in forests and in some cases set on fire, or are they vehicles that are being broken up? It is clear from various Internet sites, when cars for sale are investigated, that three or four cars can make up one car. We need a system that can track down these vehicles. There is an opportunity here for the Minister to deal with that difficulty.

I welcome the fact that motor tax is not charged on vehicles in the stock of car dealers. There is another issue in respect of car dealers - that is, side-of-the-road car dealers who may have 12 or 15 cars on the grass verges of roads. I hope those people will be required to pay motor taxation on all of those cars, because they pay no rates and in some cases no income tax. I would like to see the Minister cracking down on those people. They are undercutting legitimate and compliant garages across the country and skirting the law. I hope the Minister will ensure specifically that they are not included in the provision whereby dealers in the trade do not have to pay motor taxation.

There is also the issue of fake tax discs. When the Garda requests a driver to stop, particularly in the evening, a flashlamp is shone on the tax disc and, if it appears to be in order, the driver is waved on. The Garda has no system to verify with the motor taxation office, which will eventually be the Road Safety Authority, whether a tax disc is legitimate. There is a need to examine that issue. Given modern technology, there should be a scanning device to ensure the discs are legitimate. I am aware from speaking with younger people who are technologically capable that they are able to make up discs and sell them on the black market. When the drivers are requested to stop at legitimate Garda checkpoints, following a cursory look, they get over the line. This is what is happening. The Minister is doing excellent work in this Bill but an adjunct is to ensure that everybody pays motor tax correctly in order that money can be provided to upgrade the roads.