Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1370. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to introduce a system whereby a car owner can pay their motor tax on either a weekly or monthly basis via direct debit (details supplied) [30639/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have no plans currently to introduce a system of direct debit payments for motor tax.

Any such proposal would require to be underpinned by robust legislation to ensure that there is a system in place to recoup income lost to the taxpayer where there are insufficient funds in personal accounts to meet the payment or where a direct debit or standing order option is cancelled by the account holder once a disc is issued. It would also be necessary to introduce provisions to enable recovery of the disc where required. The resultant additional enforcement requirements would also be likely to increase the cost of operating the system.