Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2013
682. Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government the reason a person (details supplied) in Dublin 18 must pay arrears of €536 when they have not been driving their car since June 2013; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46407/13]
View answerThe Non-Use of Motor Vehicles Act 2013 came into effect on 1 July 2013. The primary purpose of the Act is to replace the system whereby a vehicle is only declared off the road when the owner next goes to tax it with a system under which the vehicle must be declared off the road in advance. This is aimed at closing an evasion loophole, costing taxpayers approximately €55m per annum, which was facilitated through the use of retrospective declarations.
The Act provided for a three month transition period from 1 July 2013 to 30 September 2013 to allow vehicle owners to bring their motor tax status up to date by making both a retrospective and prospective off-road declaration.
There was extensive public notice of the Act’s coming into force and widespread awareness-raising of the new arrangements from before the start of the transition period. Advertisements giving notice of the proposed changes were run in national and local newspapers in the first week in July and again in the second week in September. Local radio ads were run over the course of a week in July and both national and local radio ads were again run over the course of a week in mid-September. The changes have also been highlighted in a number of media articles over the course of that period.
A specific procedure was also put in place to allow those who were abroad or incapacitated to put their motor tax affairs in order by nominating a friend or relative to attend at a Garda Station on their behalf to have the required form stamped in respect of a past period of non-use, if the vehicle owner was not in a position to do so. This arrangement was also publicised at the time.
The new arrangements, only allowing for a future declaration, are fully in force since 1 October 2013 and exemptions are not provided for in individual cases, given that vehicle owners generally who did not avail of the transition arrangements must now pay arrears in motor tax where these arise, and the necessity generally of maintaining a consistent approach in the application of the legislation.
