Irish Drivers Association – Giving Irish Drivers A Voice        Irish Drivers Association – Giving Irish Drivers A Voice

Letter to Ministers Cowen and Cullen (25th Feb 2006)

Dear Mr. Cowen and Mr. Cullen, Ministers of Finance and Transport,

As an Association of Irish Drivers we speak for both the Association and the majority of motorists in this country and wish to express our concern about the numerous ‘rip-off’s’ existing in this country in relation to motoring costs

We are not requesting, but demanding, the immediate abolition of VRT on cars. We already wrote to you prior to the Budget and you did nothing to alleviate these concerns and we have an expectation that you would have at the very least done something to remove this unfair and unwarranted and unlawful burden on an already heavily taxed motorist.

You should be aware that the VRT is an unlawful tax in that it breaches Article 25 of the Treaty of Rome and Ireland, as a member State, is in breach of their treaty obligations, not just under Article 25, but also under Aticle10. The Irish population acceded to the EU on the 1st.January 1973 and it was the Irish people’s decision that the benefits which flowed, as is our rights, under these Treaty Articles should be bestowed upon the Irish People. This has not happened and our cars, because of VRT are approximately 25% more expensive than in other EU Member States. Recently, the European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs, Mr. Kovacs expressed concern to you in relation to this matter. The Irish People have been expressing concern about VRT for the past 33 years. No one in Government has listened to the people! Where is Democracy? The Irish Government plead the loss of 1Billion euro if VRT is abolished. Do you not realise that the Irish Government were never entitled to this money in the first place and successive governments have literally ‘ripped-off’ the Irish motorist for the past 33 years!

Can you please explain why there is such a resistance to grant these benefits to the Irish citizens under our Treaty Articles? Not only are we requesting the immediate abolition of VRT, we are also demanding that VRT be refunded to all motorists who have purchased a new car since the 1st.January 1973. The benefits would be huge, not least, more affordable cars ( The Government keeps talking about ‘affordable housing’ don’t they) which would improve greatly, safety on Irish roads, environmental benefits and reduction of accidents and road deaths, and by creating more volume in new car sales, there is a win win situation for all concerned.

The NCT is additionally ‘ripping-off’ the Irish citizen, by having a monopoly in Ireland. The NCT now appear to be abusing their dominant position under Articles 81 & 82 of the Treaty of Rome, such position being created by the Government. Why are local major garages that service cars, prevented from offering the NCT as part of a normal service? Why is the issue of an NCT certificate not valid for 2 years from the date of the test? The NCT for some reason seems to think each car has a birthday, i.e. the registration date of the car. This is just a rule/regulation to obtain more money from the motorist. Why are cars unnecessarily being failed in relation to criteria which has nothing to do with safety or the roadworthiness of the car? Why are NCT proffering these kinds of ridiculous excuses to Irish citizens? What is the legal status of NCT issuing a certificate of roadworthiness when apparently their liability end after the car leaves their premises. Why are State cars exempt from the NCT?  If a certain sector is exempt from NCT, how therefore can the law apply equally to everyone? If it does not apply equally to all sectors, then it is not a law! We have heard citizens being failed for having 2 bags of shopping in the boot or the back seat, the interior light not functioning, and for not having the wheel trims removed when a request could be made for them to be removed if an oversight has occurred and there are many more examples, not least, the inaccuracies in the testing equipment at NCT centres and one citizen actually seeing an NCT mechanic adjust his headlights out of focus after they had been focussed just before the test occurred and why, up to 50% of cars are failed even when nothing is wrong with the cars to comply with NCT’s defined statistics. The treatment of the Irish citizen by NCT is both arrogant and unwarranted and the criteria for test on a vehicle should be clearly defined in advance of any test. The NCT are literally ‘ripping-off’ the Irish motorist with their ‘tactics’ and the Government have stood idly by and allowed this to be inflicted on their own citizens!

We see no reason why main dealers and appropriate garages which is carrying better equipment than the NCT should be prevented from carrying out this function or a better system implemented. Indeed EU Directive 96/96 provides for this. In any event, when a citizen services their car regularly, as identified by the service book or maintenance manual and a citizen has been informed by a garage that their car is safe and roadworthy, why is it necessary for the NCT to tell them the same information, information which they already know, and charge them €49 for 20 minutes observations.

This association does not accept this test in its present form and major reform is necessary if the Irish motorist is to have any confidence in the system. It is, in our opinion another aspect of ‘rip-off’ Ireland.  It has been brought to our attention by our members that unless improvements are implemented, that this NCT test should be boycotted.

In relation to penalty points, why is it necessary to penalise the Irish motorist and why does the Minister have this mentality? Is the Irish motorist to be penalised more, having been ripped off for years or to be supported through proper educational programmes designed to enhance safety. For example, simulators provide a great means of improving Irish driving well above the standard of the average driver. Why are there no simulators in each province in Ireland? You will not improve driver behaviour or attitude by threatening more penalties on an already over penalised motorist. If the Minister purports to introduce 31 more penalty points, a referendum should be held to allow the people to decide, as this is a very serious issue not to be decided by one man who is capable of wasting millions of public funds and still holds office. If penalty points are going to exist, then ‘bonus points’ must also exist to balance this detriment. Thus if a motorist drives safely every day, this should generate bonus points for the motorist who drives safely and consideration should be given to this. The motorist is simply fed up of being penalised in one form and another.

The Motor tax is another aspect of ‘rip-off’ Ireland to the extent that the money is simply not being spent fast enough on the roads, the motor tax system does not recognise an overpayment of road tax and the system does not recognise a refund of road tax even when there is three months or more remaining on our road tax discs. Consideration should now be given to including the road tax in the petrol because of the many benefits this would bring, not least every citizen then pays for the road in direct proportion to their use of the road, freeing up Garda time on the road which in turn would free up the Court’s time, as road traffic legislation is the most challenged legislation in this country because it is the most unfair and the most punitive and higher choices can be made if only our government were prepared to explore these possibilities and listen to the people. The road tax is contained in the petrol in the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia and other countries and in Australia, the use of the road also includes third party insurance helping to lower insurance premiums, bring major benefits to their citizens. We are seriously concerned about Gardai thinking they can dispossess citizens of their cars in breach of our Constitutional and EC Law rights in relation to motor tax or customs and excise in relation to VRT and to a citizens freedom of movement under Article 39 and also Article 49 of the Treaty of Rome.

This association also wishes to contribute to improved driver behaviour and attitude to assist in reducing road accidents such as simulators, improvements in the issuing of driving licences and many other aspects including the disgraceful state of our roads, national and secondary.

We now request a meeting with both Ministers as soon as possible. We are grateful for your time in reading our letter and look forward to hearing from you in due course. Many thanks.

Yours Faithfully,

…………………………………
Mr.John Lernihan, National Chairman
Tel: 087 250 9123

………………………………..
Mr.David Russell, National Secretary
Tel: 087 231 2250