Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 318 of 1992, Vehicle Registration and Taxation Regulations (as amended by S.I. No. 542 of 2012) prescribes the format, lettering, dimensions, and technical specifications of registration plates that must be displayed on all vehicles used on public roads. Section 131(6), Finance Act 1992 provides that the registration number must be displayed in the format prescribed in the regulations and Section 139 of the same Act makes it an offence to display the registration plate in an incorrect manner.

I would like to draw the Deputy’s attention to a response provided by my colleague, the Minister for Justice, to Parliamentary Question, www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2023-11-30/435/, on 30 November 2023, which includes details of the number of Fixed Charge Notices issued by An Garda Síochána for offences in relation to vehicles plates.

In addition, the National Car Test (NCT), for which the Minister for Transport has policy responsibility, includes checks on the placement, format, legibility, visibility, and colour of a vehicle’s registration plates. Non-compliance with any prescribed vehicle registration plate requirement is recorded as a “major defect” under the NCT, and a vehicle displaying non-compliant registration plates will fail an NCT test until the issue is fixed.