Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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963. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on reports that more than 200,000 written-off cars are still being driven; his views on whether this is a factor in the 18% increase in road deaths in 2013 compared with 2012; the safeguards currently in place to ensure written-off cars do not re-enter the car sales market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1725/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The use of written-off vehicles on Irish roads is of concern to me and their effective control is an important factor in ensuring a high standard of safety on Irish roads. It is an offence under road traffic law to drive an unsafe vehicle that presents a danger to road users.

My Department has an administrative arrangement whereby motor vehicle insurers notify us of vehicles that are damaged beyond repair in order to ensure certain written-off vehicles are not put back on the road. The details of these vehicles are then "locked down" on the National Vehicle Driver File (NVDF).  That means that no transactions, such as renewal of annual motor tax, change of ownership, etc., can be recorded in respect of that vehicle. I am advised that approximately 40,000 such vehicles have had their NVDF records locked down in the last five years.  The administrative process, however, does not have a statutory footing and does not account for vehicles often referred to as "economic write-offs", even where such vehicles are badly damaged.  Written-off vehicles imported from another country are also not accounted for.

In order to tackle these issues, I am proposing to introduce a statutory control procedure in relation to written-off vehicles.  The objective of this would be to ensure that severely and irreparably damaged vehicles are never let back on the road, and, where a written-off vehicle can be repaired, it will only be allowed back into service if repaired to acceptable standards, with such repairs being independently assessed and certified.

As the collision database does not include information on the involvement of written-off vehicles, we do not have statistical evidence to determine the extent to which written-off vehicles may have contributed to the increase in road fatalities in 2013.