Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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202. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport his views on whether the provisions in relation to the display of tax certificates, insurance certificates and NCT certificates need to be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16951/18]

Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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Motor tax, insurance and NCT discs are required to be displayed on a vehicle being used in a public place.  Use includes leaving a vehicle stationary. There are no plans to review these requirements.

The Cost of Insurance Working Group, chaired by the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Mr. Eoghan Murphy, T.D., in his former role as Minister of State at the Department of Finance, published a Report on the cost of motor insurance in January 2017.  The Group considered the issue of the abolition of the paper-based insurance disc as part of its deliberations.  The decision of the Working Group was that it was not recommending the phasing out of the paper-based insurance disc.  In arriving at its conclusion, the Group noted the experience in the U.K. where vehicle excise evasion surveys carried out after the abolition of the paper motor tax disc in that jurisdiction in 2014 have found that the rate of unlicensed vehicles was much higher than had been observed prior to abolition.   In terms of enforcement, the Working Group also concluded  that Ireland is not yet in a position to underpin an enforcement regime where technology would be the primary method of enforcement.   The Group recommended that the phasing out of the paper insurance disc should be reviewed in the future as the development of technology progresses. The continued use of the paper motor tax and NCT discs will also be kept under review in that context.