Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 672: To ask the Minister for Transport the circumstances under which the gardaí or the local authority can remove a vehicle that is parked on the road but no longer in use and neither taxed nor insured; if an owner can leave it parked indefinitely on the public road and withhold their agreement to move it; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38896/09]

Noel Dempsey (Meath West, Fianna Fail)
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Powers are available, to the Gardaí and local authorities, under the Road Traffic (Removal, Storage and Disposal of Vehicles) Regulations, 1983 to 1998 to remove, store and dispose of vehicles which are abandoned or unlawfully parked on a public road or in a local authority car park.

Separate powers under the Road Traffic Act, 1994 (Section 41) Regulations, 1995 and 1998 provide for the detention, removal, storage and disposal of vehicles detained by the Gardaí where the driver has no motor insurance cover, where the road tax is more than three months out of date or where the vehicle is being driven by an under age driver.

Owners of vehicles in use on the public road are required to display evidence of payment of the appropriate amount of motor tax. A range of actions are available to Gardaí (and in some cases local authority traffic wardens) to enforce these provisions beginning with the issuing of a fixed charge notice for non display of a motor tax disc and eventually culminating in detention of the vehicle under Section 41 of the Road Traffic Act 1994.