€20m in Galway motor tax is ‘propping up’ Irish Water

Hard-pressed Galway drivers have forked out more than €33 million in car tax so far this year. And a Galway TD has described as “a scandal” the fact that most of the money will go straight to the coffers of Irish Water.
“We have roads with potholes as big as craters all over the county crying out for funds to repair them.
“But instead of the money collected in motor tax being used to fix them up, most of it is being used to fund the activities of Irish Water,” said Independent TD Noel Grealish.
The Department of Environment has confirmed that the total motor tax collected in Galway in the first six months of the year was €33.3 million.
Deputy Grealish pointed out that earlier this year, the Public Accounts Committee learned that two-thirds of the state subvention of €439 million to Irish Water last year had come from motor tax payments, with expected subventions of €399 million for 2015 and €479 million for 2016.
“That means that one can presume that out of the €33 million-plus paid up by Galway car owners in the first six months of this year, more than €20 million will go to propping up Irish Water.
“Just think of what that money could do do our crumbling roads structure throughout County Galway, which is starved of funds for even the most basic of maintenance.
“It’s illogical that a tax which is applied to users of our roads should not be used to maintain them.
“And this is not just a question of the physical damage being done to cars encountering large potholes — there is also a serious concern about the threat to the safety of people using the roads that this disintegration poses.
“Meanwhile, Galway County Council and Galway City Council are being put in an impossible situation where they are only being given a trickle of money towards the upkeep of thousands of miles of roads, and having to decide what stretches are the most in need,” added Deputy Grealish. The Galway West TD pointed out that motor tax wasn’t the only local tax being passed on to Irish Water instead of being reinvested locally, as the water utility also receives money collected through the property tax.