"Your car is off the road because you are over 70 and the Government instructed you to stay home. The motor tax that you had already paid for those months that became a lockdown is now totally wasted. I think that you deserve a motor tax rebate or a tax extension" says Mayo Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh, but the Government does not.
Conway-Walsh continued saying: "I asked in a Parliamentary Question to the outgoing Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, to enable the issuing of retrospective declarations of non-use for the vehicles owned by drivers over 70 year of age for the period during which they were cocooning.
"The response that I received was a restatement of motor tax law, with no consideration of our elder citizens who have made significant personal sacrifices to comply with Government guidelines.
"Wouldn’t it be logical to simply extend the validity of their tax disc by three months? There is no need to prove that the car was not in use as all of these individuals were ordered to stay home.
"Updating the expiry date for over 70s in the motor tax database followed by an email or post notification is a straightforward course of action. If an official document for the vehicle is required, then Councils can send a special sticker to attach to their disc.
"Through no fault of their own, these citizens were monetarily disadvantaged and they deserve to receive a motor tax rebate or an extension.
"One can't help but wonder, when you recall that workers over 66 were denied the Covid payment, whether there is a pattern of discrimination here."
