Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Finance if consideration will be given to the revision of the current licence plate registration system for vehicles to enable the purchaser of a pre-owned vehicle to have that vehicle re-designated to that person's county of residence for an appropriate and reasonable fee; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41108/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The issue of amending the current registration plate system was considered as part of the VRT/Registration plate review process undertaken by my Department in 2012. All relevant stakeholders (Environment, Transport, the Gardai, RSA, NRA) were consulted at the time and none were in favour of the proposal. Issues raised at the time were that it would be overly cumbersome, require significant administration and ongoing maintenance as a vehicle could have multiple change of marks and would pose significant difficulties around traceability of vehicles. It was largely felt that any departure from the traditional (since 1904) ‘one vehicle one number plate’ approach would place overall accuracy levels of the NVDF (National Vehicle and Driver File) at risk and consequently present additional problems in the management of the national fleet and the collection of motor tax as well as the identification of vehicles in connection with road traffic accidents and traffic offences. In addition, 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.