USE MOTOR TAX INCOME TO FIX COUNTY’S ROADS

A call was made for all money collected by the motor tax office in Wexford to be used to improve the county’s battered roads.

Cllr Fionntáin Ó Suilleabháin made the suggestion in a motion at the monthly meeting of Wexford County Council in which he referred to the lack of funding for road maintenance and re-construction in rural parts of the county. He said: ‘As we contribute a higher than average percentage of our own funding towards road works the council calls on the Department of Local Government to allow local authorities such as ours to keep a higher percentage of our road tax income towards such works.’

Cllr Ó Suilleabhain said there is a public perception that motor tax income goes into road repairs, when, in fact, councils like Wexford pay for road repairs out of their own resources.

The meeting heard that Wexford people spent around €37m per year on taxing their cars and only one third of this is allocated towards improving the county’s road network. ‘We need a higher percentage,’ Cllr Ó Suilleabháin insisted. Cllr Ger Carthy replied: ‘A higher percentage of zero is zero, because we’re getting zero.’

Head of Finance Annette O’Neill clarified that Local Government funding, which is, in part, bolstered through motor tax income, does pay for some road works. ‘ There isn’t a direct correlation.’

Director of services for roads Eamonn Hore agreed, saying: ‘People’s motor tax money does not go towards repairing the roads. It has been proven over the past 20 years that Wexford needs additional funding for roads.’ The motion was fully supported.