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THE GOVERNMENT HAS approved formal drafting of new bills that will end the need for paper tax discs and also “streamline” information on road traffic collisions.
Cabinet has approved the drafting of the National Vehicle and Driver File Bill 2024, which includes provisions to abolish the requirement to display a motor tax disc.
A spokesperson from the Department of Transport noted that gardaí already have immediate digital access to motor tax information and the new bill will “get rid of a now unnecessary validation of tax compliance”.
Currently, motorists are legally required to display their motor tax disc to drive in a public place.
The legislation will also strengthen GDPR for access to vehicle and driver data and remove the end date of declarations of non-use of a motor vehicle.
The National Vehicle and Driver File (NVDF) is the central register of vehicles and drivers and is widely used by state agencies, including the Road Safety Authority and An Garda Síochána, for a variety of road safety purposes.
Meanwhile, the Roads Bill 2024 will allow the “flow of information so that local authorities may request, receive, and process road collision data from both the RSA and An Garda Síochána.
A department spokesperson said this data will enable local authorities, in their role as road authorities, to target areas where collisions are more prone to occur with investment and infrastructure.
The spokesperson added that it’s hoped this new legislation will support the delivery of the Government’s Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030 targets of reducing fatalities on Irish roads by 50% by the end of this decade.
The Government also has a “Vision Zero” target of no deaths or serious injuries on Irish roads by 2050.
Speaking after the meeting of Government today, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said the flow of collision data to local authorities will be an “important tool in reducing the terrible trend of rising road fatalities”.
He said this “builds on the important work we are already undertaking in response to accidents on our roads”.
Ryan added that the NVDF Bill will provide a more data-secure underpinning for the national vehicle driver file.
He also remarked that the Bill will modernise the motor tax system and “get rid of the need for paper discs on our windscreens, in line with most other European countries”.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Transport James Lawless said every life lost on Irish roads is one too many, and that the Roads Bill will “strengthen our response to the trends that unfortunately so many of our citizens have been impacted by”.
He added that the NVDF Bill is a “natural next step towards modernising our systems and improving outcomes for citizens”.
“Using technology to allow digital versions of tax discs will provide for a paperless system, being convenient for motorists and more efficient all round,” said Lawless.
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Paper tax,insurance and nct discs should have been scrapped years ago. Failure to integrate systems and deploy anpr left the country using last century processes. Worthy of a case study to fix our inability to progress and deploy technology in a timely manner
@aYc221Lw: waste of cops time for €70. Even that could be done remotely.
I’m presuming this will mean there won’t be a charge for buying tax in instalments then for those who can’t afford to pay one year at a time? The government were able to charge 33% interest under current rules.
@James Groden: I’ll guess this will remain as its the same with Insurance, pay more over a longer period of installments.
@James Groden: Monthly direct debit should be the normal way to pay car tax.
@James Groden: a vehicle is not a right, if you choose to go into debt to drive ti is no ones proiblem but your own
What’s new about this? Discs haven’t been used on cars in most European countries for years. Just once it would be refreshing to come up with a new initiative.
UK got ride of Paper Tax disc years ago, the number of people not getting there cars taxed also went up, and they have ampr cameras. We don’t or body cams on cops or a functioning judicial service! What could possibly go wrong?!?!?!
@patrick kelly: actually your very wrong since paper discs were abolished the proportion of car drivers without tax has dropped dramatically. Less than 2 percent of U.K. vehicles are estimated to have no tax. It also helps that all U.K. police cars are equipped with .a.n.p.r ( automatic number plate recognition).
@Neil Brooks: actually your wrong
Paperless discs have been used in the UK since October 2014. The Sunday Times in the UK reported in 2015 that the decision to scrap the tax disc in cars resulted in £45 million a year in lost revenue.
@patrick kelly: quoting a 9 year old newspaper article?
@Nala Ytrennif: That’s when the change to paperless disc tax happened, Hench the report, so yes 9 year old facts that’s how facts work! If youe point is that the UK needed reg cameras to stop tax dodging when I think we already covered that as we don’t have any where near as many cameras in Ireland…
Great to see that Gardai dont have to man roadside checkpoints if Gat vans can just scan no plates & impose fines.
Or am I jumping ahead of the process?
What is really needed is for the motor reg crew to post notice to registered users that fail to renew that they have 14 days to pay up, or the car will be impounded. No prosecution process, no fines, just impound the wagon & register the debt, cumulatively, including pound costs.
Theres hardly a road in Ireland with untaxed vehicles a lot of which end up in wrong hands for wrong uses.
@William Kelly: there will always be a need for check points. ANPR can’t scan for driver under the influence of alcohol or drugs or can’t scan for a disqualified driver etc.
So just like the ukrainean cars
That’s my Baked Beans label redundant so ….
scrap the car tax , also the tv tax .
now that would help
@Dominic Leleu: and increase your income tax or vat? Has to come from somewhere
@reg morrisey: hopefully this has been before the courts and dealt with it not he will walk free
At last, an end to the “Banana Republic Confetti” is in sight.
in the near future, all non paid insurance, late nct and car taxes will just get filed to the justice system or revenue and people will automatically get fined.
at least it’s going this way. Why the guards would even get involved …
like permanent radars in bunkers already existing in europe, they will come up as well.
you get what you voted for….
@Dominic Leleu: i certainly hope so
@reg morrisey: It’s on RTÉ if your looking to read it so badly.
Get foreign plates so they dont pay tax dont have to either,problem solved
@reg morrisey: Sunday World covered it and believe it or not it’s on RTE. Journal.ie will probably put it up at midnight.
Well I know for a fact that in Spain while the authorities dont issue Road Tax Receipts, they do issue receipts for payments. And if you dont have the receipt, you car can be towed away. Most regions have no way of La Guardia Nacional or the Local Police anyway of checking by the roadside
Be able to see more out the windscreen! Good to see joined-up thinking too. All the discs should be gone, but, no harm to have them in the glove box when the system crashes.
@reg morrisey: jailed for 2 years 3 months
Older folk won’t be happy.
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