Tax office may not get chop

January 2010

PROTESTERS opposed to any plans to shut the motor tax offices in Blessington now believe the service will survive government cuts.

County Manager Eddie Sheehy said the council would have to examine the closure of the office as part of efforts to streamline services.

This led to a protest outside the civic offices in Blessington, followed by a protest outside the county buildings in Wicklow town on Monday prior to February’s council meeting.

Gerry O’Neill, a local Sinn Fein representative, has played a critical role in drumming up opposition to any closure proposals, and feels the council has little choice but to keep the offices open.

‘A lot of people have been lobbying hard about this and I would be fairly confident that the offices will now stay open,’ he told this newspaper.

Protesters insist that the office, in addition to providing local jobs, provides a much needed public services for motorists living throughout the west of the county.

It’s also claimed that the results of any cutbacks would result in 20,000 people who used the services in 2009 being forced to travel to Wicklow town in order to obtain motor tax in the future.

Mr. O’Neill accepts the council’s figures stating that 40 per cent of motor tax affairs in the county are carried out online.

However he feels with 60 per cent of motorists still using more traditional methods and a large proportion of Wicklow residents still without broadband, it’s ridiculous to expect people from the west to travel to Wicklow town.