I welcome the Minister to the House. I thank the Cathaoirleach for taking my motion on the adjournment today. My question relates to four transit vans which have been seized by the Garda in Letterkenny. These vans are valued in excess of £250,000 and they have been seized by gardaí in Donegal as part of their investigations into van theft. Not all of the vans which have been seized have been stolen; some very reputable owners and dealers have bought the vans with a clear tax book.
The situation I am concerned about relates to vans which may well have been stolen in some parts of Great Britain. The owner applies to his insurance company who pay up on the stolen van. The van may well be found some time later and it may be discovered that some of its parts have been removed. Insurance companies then take possession of the vehicles and sell them off again. Some garage owners or dealers then put the missing parts back into the vans and put them up for sale again. Most of the vans are Q registered vans which have had full checks for roadworthiness and have been given a clean bill of health by the British authorities in Swansea and by the authorities in Northern Ireland at Coleraine. The paperwork is perfectly in order on these vehicles. Many of the vans make their way back into places like Donegal and are given full customs clearance by the customs authorities in Donegal and full import duty is paid on them.
Recently a number of these vans have been seized by the Garda, who are alleging they are stolen. To date, the Garda have stated that 23 vans with bogus registration plates have been uncovered in the county. The majority of these vans may well be worth over £10,000 each and the Garda maintain that the purchasers are not aware they are stolen by a large network of people who have a way of disposing of the vehicles. A number of people have been interviewed by gardaí. In a number of cases, a number of dealers have themselves informed the gardaí they have bought vans. The same people who have paid between £8,000 and £10,000 for the vans have had them checked through Coleraine in Northern Ireland and through Swansea in Wales and have gone through customs clearance. They have been found to be in order. Then the Garda come along and seize the vehicles. I think it is unfair that people who have purchased the vans in good faith and have all the paperwork properly in order should suffer the embarrassment of having the vans seized. Can the Minister tell me why the vans have been seized when they have been given full customs clearance?
