Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)
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Question 559: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he will consider new rules that allowed for inter-county registration of second hand-vehicles; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31759/11]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The primary function of a vehicle number plate is to provide a unique identifier to facilitate administration of vehicle regulation and enforcement. Section 131 of the Finance Act 1992 enables the Revenue Commissioners to assign vehicle identification marks (number plates) to vehicles registered in the State. There are no provisions which enable number plates, once assigned to be changed during the subsequent life of a vehicle.

The registration plate arrangements in the current system allows members of the public, car buyers and enforcement agencies such as An Garda Síochána and Customs and Excise authorities to readily identify a vehicle during its lifetime. I have concerns that a move to a system where registration numbers may potentially change following each change of ownership, possibly as many as five to six occasions during the lifetime of a vehicle, could create confusion without providing any real benefits in fulfilling the primary objectives for which registration plates were created. Indeed, such an approach would make it extremely difficult to distinguish between legitimate and fraudulent number plate exchanges.

In addition, any system where the registration number can be changed with frequency would require the use of an alternative identifier with greater permanency such as the vehicle chassis number (VIN) and this would not be satisfactory from a system transparency perspective. These difficulties are compounded by potential additional problems in the management of the national fleet and the identification of vehicles in connection with road traffic accidents and offences. Substantial monies are collected annually from tolling charges and road traffic penalties and permanent number plates associated with vehicles is an essential component to ensure that these systems are able to function.

As such, unless it could be shown that significant revenues would accrue to the State from the introduction of such a system, I do not see the benefit of allowing inter-county changes of registration.