Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 14 Oct 1998

Vol. 495 No. 2

Written Answers. - Car Sales.

Ivor Callely

Ceist:

144 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Finance if he will give a detailed breakdown of new and used cars registered for the first nine months of 1998; if he will give a breakdown of the make of the cars; the level of revenue generated from these sales; if the Irish vehicle registration tax rates are in line with our EU counterparts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19776/98]

Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy)

I have been informed by the Revenue Commissioners that the information sought by the Deputy is as follows.

Registrations of cars (categories AI and A2) to end September 1998 are:

New vehicles	133,804
Used vehicles	33,906
TOTAL	167,710
The Exchequer yield is as follows:
		£ million
VRT	new vehicles	396
	used vehicles	37
VAT (est)	new vehicles	260
	used vehicles	22
Total	715

The Commissioners have also informed me that they do not, as a matter of routine, analyse their vehicle registration by reference to vehicle manufacturer, as requested by the Deputy. However, such specific analysis is published monthly by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry derived from the Commissioners' statistics.

Vehicle registration taxes of one form or another are applied in many EU member states. These taxes are operated in a variety of ways and as such are not directly comparable. However, judging from receipts from registrations taxes as a percentage of GDP, Ireland is among those EU states such as Denmark, Portugal, the Nether-lands, Finland and Greece which rely more heavily on such taxes rather than other member states.