Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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124. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 354 of 25 March 2021 and 86 of 7 February 2024, the reason there is no definite plan for implementing the legislation in 2024, given the importance of same in 2014 for the Garda Ombudsman and for an organisation (details supplied) in 2017 and the enacted legislation on it in 2023. [9164/24]

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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My Department through the National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) maintains a record of the ‘registered owners’ of motor vehicles. While the initial registration of the vehicle (including name and address details of the vehicle owner) is a matter for the Revenue Commissioners, my Department manages all subsequent change of ownership notifications.

The change of ownership service has specific legislative requirements and has a number of service delivery channels – offline (by post) to my Department's offices in Shannon, online for approved motor dealers on the Department's website (www.motortrans.ie ) and at Local Authority motor tax offices (in person or by post).

My Department has now developed a new channel. This online change of vehicle ownership service will enable private vehicle owners record vehicle sales on the NVDF. Private sales would represent up to 500,000 ownership changes per annum, and would, in the main, be notifications currently processed though the postal service at my offices in Shannon. The new service will, for the first time, enable the buyer of the vehicle be identified and verified through their MyGovID account. That verified name will be recorded against the vehicle on the NVDF. The Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations, 1992 (S.I. No. 385/1992) as amended and the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (for the use of MyGovID) provide the legal basis for this service. The service, which will be available on my Department's online motor tax website, www.motortax.ie and on Gov.ie, is currently being tested and it is envisaged that it will be live in Q2 this year.

The use of verified owner mechanisms will also be considered for the other change of ownership service delivery channels. It is important to note however that there are operational challenges in this regard. Change of vehicle ownership requires the consent of both the seller and the buyer of the vehicle, and the process is seller led, as per the legislative requirement. For the offline postal service, currently both parties sign the vehicle registration certificate, and the seller posts the notification to my Department's offices in Shannon for updating on the NVDF. This delivery channel may be a challenge in the context of verifying the new owner, as a buyer of a vehicle may not be comfortable submitting their driver number or PPSN to the seller of a vehicle (as per Sections 4 of the Road Traffic and Roads Act 2023).

Other touch points of the vehicle lifecycle including registration, motor tax, insurance and vehicle testing will also be examined this year to determine how best owners and vehicles can be uniquely matched, and have their details verified.