This article is from page 21 of the 2012-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 21 JPG
CLARE County Council procedures governing the taxing of vehicles are set to be reviewed after a furore was raised by the President of the Irish Road Haulage Association last week when he questionned whether it was “a deliberate policy to hinder businesses from trying to carry out their daily work”.
Eoin Gavin launched a broadside at procedures in place at the motor tax office that has relocated to Áras an Chláir, after he was told that he wasn’t allow tax more than three vehicles at one time.
“I waited for 45 minutes and, when I got to the desk, the official informed me that they could only tax three trucks at any one time and that I would have to return on another day to tax the outstanding vehicles,” blasted Mr Gavin.
According to Mr Gavin, the council subsequently agreed to tax all of his vehicles “as a once-off” and that, going forward, the policy of not taxing more than three vehicles at the one time would remain in place.
“This is an absurd situation to have to tolerate,” said Mr Gavin. “I have 17 vehicles, 13 of which are HGVs, and I invest a substantial amount of money in the local authority in road tax each year. I also employ 16 people directly from the local area and many more indirectly.
“The attitude which I recently experienced, which seems to be commonplace across county council offices around the country, is resulting in a lot of hauliers asking should we now re-register in the North of Ireland where road tax is non-existent or minimal.
“Licensed road haulage operators are seeking to tax their vehicles in order to operate in a legally compliant manner, but this is not being facilitated by tax offices. Economic recovery is reliant on a vibrant export economy and only through the utilization of HGVs will that objective be realised,” he added.
Following representations made to Shannon area representative Cllr PJ Ryan (Ind), The Cla re People understands that the Clare County Council policy is now being reviewed. “It’s only right,” said Cllr Ryan. “There has to be a streamlining of all services and this is part of that. This helps business move quicker and that’s what everyone should want,” he added.