Written answers
Thursday, 30 October 2008
Department of Finance
Price Increases
6:00 pm
Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 95: To ask the Minister for Finance the price increases imposed by his Department and its agencies for public service, product or tax since 1 January to date in 2008; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37693/08]
Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will appreciate that, given its functions, my Department does not generally provide products or services directly to the public and accordingly the issue of price increases does not occur. The exception to this is fees for Freedom of Information requests and these fees are unchanged in the current year. With regard to products or services provided by offices under the aegis of my department the table sets out the price increases that were applied during the year.
| Office | Product/Service | Price Increase |
| Office of Public Works | The only price increases approved by OPW in 2008 were in respect of admission charges for tours of Castletown House. | Adult: From €4.00 to €4.50 |
| State Laboratory | The State Laboratory provide an analytical service to a number of hospitals and private companies for the determination of levels of lead, copper and zinc in blood. | The charge for this service increased from €30 to €35 per analysis in June 2008. |
| Office of the Revenue Commissioners | Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) | Statutory Instrument No. 396 of 2008 (Vehicle Registration and Taxation (Amendment) Regulations 2008 increased the fee for the reservation of an unallocated identification mark (registration number) from €315 to €1,000 from 7 October 2008. The Deputy may wish to note that this fee had not been increased since the introduction of VRT in the State on 1 January 1993. |
All changes in tax rates are published on the website of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners.
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