Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Finance the matter on which the motor tax collected in 2011 and 2012 is spent. [14368/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Motor tax receipts for 2011 were €1.012bn and for 2012 were €1.043bn. All monies collected from motor tax are paid into the Local Government Fund.

In 2011 no money was transferred to the Exchequer; in 2012 a sum of €46.5m was transferred from the Local Government Fund to the Exchequer.

Approximately 34% of the Fund is transferred to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport annually for expenditure related to public transport infrastructure and for disbursement to local authorities for roads maintenance. The costs of running the National Vehicle and Driver File are also paid to that Department – the annual cost is in the order of €14.6m. The remainder of the Fund is disbursed by my Department to local authorities, including by way of general purpose grants.

General purpose grants from the Local Government Fund are structured to bring about equalisation over time - that is a position of balance where the financial needs of local authorities are met by their resources and they are able to provide an appropriate level of service to their customers.

Local authorities cost and income bases vary significantly from one another and in calculating an appropriate distribution of these grants a number of factors are taken into account including the overall funding available for this purpose, the estimated cost to each authority of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers, the income each authority should generate from local sources and the necessity to provide each authority with a baseline allocation that will support its financial stability.