Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 346: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will introduce legislation specifically to prohibit the practice of tampering with a vehicle's odometer; if he will report on the current departmental estimates for the number of cars on Irish roads and imported cars that have been clocked; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21744/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Tampering with a vehicle's odometer, more commonly known as 'clocking', is covered by consumer protection legislation, the enforcement of which is the responsibility of the National Consumer Agency.

The Consumer Protection Act 2007, (Part 3, Chapter 2, Regulations 42 & 43, entitled "Misleading Commercial Practices") states that it is an offence for a trader to engage in a misleading commercial practice which would include the provision of false information in relation to a "product's usage or prior history" to the extent that the information would be likely to cause the average consumer to make a transactional decision that the average consumer would not otherwise make.

I understand that the National Consumer Agency has been successful in taking prosecutions against car dealerships for selling or offering for sale used motor vehicles with altered-reduced odometer readings.

My Department does not maintain statistics on the number of 'clocked' cars on Irish roads.