I move amendment No. 2:—
To delete sub-section (2) and substitute the following new sub-section:—
This section shall not apply to the temporary use of a vehicle hired by the registered owner of a similar vehicle, in substitution for his own vehicle, for—
(a) the carriage of his own goods,
(b) the delivery to his customers of merchandise normally supplied by him in the course of his trade or business, or
(c) the delivery to and collection from customers of merchandise which is to be or has been repaired, cleaned, laundered or dyed by him in the normal course of his trade or business,
provided that his own vehicle is not capable of being used for such purposes solely because of the need for repair or overhaul.
On the Second Stage, the question was raised by Deputies on both sides of the House as to the position of a licensed haulier who felt it necessary to send a vehicle into a garage for repairs, or some type of overhauling, or where the vehicle had been damaged in the course of a road accident and was no longer available for use. I pointed out then that the Supreme Court decision in this matter had not altered the law; that, in fact, the law, as it stood from 1933, does not, in fact, permit the substitution of a usable vehicle for a non-usable vehicle where any vehicle is unusable and is under repairs. It has been possible to surmount the technical rigidity by the fact that the Garda authorities always understood that substitution was necessary in these cases where a valid explanation was forthcoming. On the Second Stage of the discussion, I took a somewhat similar view myself, but it was pointed out that a legal difficulty might be raised somewhere throughout the country that the substitution of one vehicle, which was undergoing repairs, by another was not in accordance with the law, and, as we were tidying up the defects in the law revealed in the 1933 Act, I thought we might take advantage of the occasion to remedy that situation.
This amendment, therefore, has been produced for the purpose of making it possible to substitute one vehicle for another, in the circumstances set out in the amendment, which meets the viewpoint expressed on both sides of the House on the Second Reading.