Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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212. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if motor tax can be refunded for a vehicle that was off road for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10560/22]

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, there is a facility in place to declare a vehicle off the road where it is not going to be in use in a public place. This is underpinned by the Non-Use of Motor Vehicles Act 2013. The primary purpose of the Act was to replace retrospective declarations of vehicles being off the road with a system where the vehicle must be declared off the road in advance.

The current procedures, only allowing for a future declaration of non-use, have been in place since 2013. An owner can indicate that a vehicle is going to be off the road by making a declaration of non-use at any time in the last month of an existing motor tax disc or previously made declaration of non-use.

Where a declaration is not made in advance, motor tax must be paid for a minimum of 3 months, along with any arrears of motor tax incurred between the expiry of the last motor tax taken out and the renewal of motor tax.

Motor tax legislation does not provide for exemptions in individual cases. You will appreciate the difficulties in providing for exemptions in particular cases, given that other people have had to pay arrears in motor tax where the Declaration of Non-use of a Motor Vehicle was not made on time, and the necessity generally of maintaining a consistent approach in the application of the legislation.