James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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112. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the position regarding the processing of motor tax payments by An Post; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19535/20]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Under existing arrangements, motor tax is payable in person or by post through motor tax offices in 26 local authorities. It is also payable online at any time, with the level of online usage increasing from 42% of all motor tax transactions in 2010 to just under 79% at the end of last year.  While overall motor tax transactions have reduced slightly in recent months due to Covid-19, the percentage of online transactions has increased significantly during that time, averaging 92% of all motor tax transactions in each of the last three months.

An Interdepartmental Group was established in October 2018 to consider options around the provision of ‘offline’ Government services, including motor tax.  The Group found that, rather than offline consumers experiencing an increasingly inconsistent approach to service provision, consideration should be given, in the context of the new National Digital Strategy and Our Public Service 2020, to the adoption of a whole of Government approach to offline service provision, similar to the adoption of Digital Government.  It was concluded that such an initiative should be driven centrally.  A whole of Government perspective allows the development of a set of principles outlining quality customer service for offline consumers, which could include bundling service delivery using existing nationwide customer facing networks.  Such an approach would provide a consistent and high quality experience to offline consumers and provide locations to help offline customers transition to digital Government.  The future provision of motor tax services will be considered within that framework.