James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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101. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the position regarding the provision of motor taxation payment services in post offices here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10970/21]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Under existing arrangements, motor tax is payable in person or by post through motor tax offices in twenty six local authorities. It has also been payable online since 2004, with the level of online usage increasing year on year to just under 79% of all motor tax applications in 2019, and increasing further in 2020 to just under 85%, partly as a result of Covid restrictions.

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.