[Article] Minister rejected proposal on old cars

Victor

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Minister rejected proposal on old cars
From:ireland.com
Monday, 20th October, 2003

Proposals to restrict the opportunities for young people to buy cheap cars, which may have failed the National Car Test (NCT), were rejected by the Minister for Transport Mr Brennan, earlier this year.

The rejection followed a proposal to apply penalty points to owners who cannot demonstrate they have disposed of their vehicles responsibly, submitted to Mr Brennan by Cork County Council, after a unanimous vote of its members in February.

The motion was tabled by Fine Gael councillor Mr Gerry Kelly, who said yesterday it was aimed at avoiding "exactly the kind of tragic crash which resulted in the loss of life in Co Clare at the weekend".

Two schoolgirls, 13-year-old Lorna O'Mahony of Marian Estate, Kilkee, and Stacey Haugh (16) of Marian Estate, Kilkee, were killed and three teenage boys were injured when the car in which they were travelling hit a wall at Carrigaholt, near Kilikee on Friday night. The car, a 1984 Opel Kadett, had allegedly been bought for €150 earlier that day in Galway.

Gardaí are tomorrow to interview the 15-year-old driver of the car, who was yesterday described as "comfortable" at Ennis General Hospital. The two other occupants of the car were a second 15-year-old boy and an 11-year-old, Karl Haugh, Stacey's younger brother.

A spokeswoman at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin said that Karl was "stable" yesterday after undergoing surgery, while the second 15-year-old was described as "comfortable" at Ennis General. The two girls were pronounced dead at the scene.

Last night, hundreds of mourners attended the removal of Lorna O'Mahony from her home, while earlier yesterday parish priest Father Donogh O'Meara asked parishioners to pray for the girls and Karl at Masses at the seaside resort. Her funeral is to take place in Kilkee later today, while Stacey Haugh will be buried tomorrow.

Cork County Council wrote to the Minister on February 28th and received a reply from his office dated April 4th last. The letter noted penalty points were broadly for "moving offences" and referred the council to the Waste Management Act in regard to end-of-use vehicles.

The reply from Mr Brennan's Department added: "You may be interested to know that proposals are being developed in the context of waste management policy to tackle the problem that you have raised - Mr Martin Cullen TD, Minister for the Environment and Local Government is considering introducing 'end of life' levies to encourage car owners to avail of scrappage and discourage illegal disposal of vehicles that are no longer roadworthy."

Mr Kelly told The Irish Times he was disappointed the Minister for Transport seemed to view the issue simply as an environmental one, rather than consider the safety implications of the move.

"If you are disposing of a car and you are likely to face penalty points unless you can produce a disposal certificate, I think you would be very careful about who you sell it to", said the councillor. However a spokesman for Mr Brennan said yesterday that the proposal would be difficult to implement. "There is no restriction on people selling cars. Up and down this country you see cars for sale at the side of the road, for a few hundred euro and anyone can buy them. Anybody selling them is presumably acting within the law. It would be hard to see how you would change that."

Victor

Calls for Government action on 'company cars'
From:ireland.com
Monday, 20th October, 2003

Opposition politicians have demanded Government action on the illegal trade in unroadworthy cars following the deaths of two teenage girls in a crash in Co Clare last week.

Lorna O'Mahony (13) and Stacey Haugh (16) both from Kilkee, died in the crash outside the village of Carrigaholt on Friday night. The 15-year-old driver of the car is currently in a serious condition in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin. Two other boys, aged 15 and 11, were also injured.

The 1984 Opel Kadett car in which they were travelling was a so-called "company car", bought for €150 in Galway earlier that day.

Both Fine Gael and Labour demanded today that the Government fast-tracks any proposals it has to halt the trade in old, cars.

Fine Gael deputy transport spokesman and Co Clare TD, Mr Pat Breen, said these cars become "lethal weapons" when sold to young people. "This awful accident could have been prevented if the vehicle concerned had been taken off the road and scrapped," he said. "Yet at the moment there is no firm mechanism to ensure that dangerous vehicles, or vehicles which have not passed the NCT, are put beyond use."

He said the Government should consider introducing full traceability for all vehicles, to ensure that cars which have reached the end of their lives are destroyed. Such a system operates in many industries, including farming.

Labour Party Dublin North East TD Mr Tommy Broughan also called on the Government introduce legislation to deal with the sale of wrecked cars.

Mr Broughan said he has twice tabled a Bill in the Dáil which would deal with joyriding and make it "an offence to supply a vehicle to an under-age person in such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable apprehension that the vehicle will be used by an under-age driver in a public place". The Bill was rejected by the Government on both occasions, he said.

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry has also called for the car scrappage scheme to be brought back in order to reduce the level of emissions in line with the Kyoto protocol. The scheme ran from July 1995 until December 1997. About 64,000 car owners availed of it, scrapping their cars aged over 10 years and receiving a £1,000 vehicle registration tax refund on the purchase of a new vehicle.

The head of the Garda Stolen Car Squad has also called on insurance companies to ensure that written-off cars are fully scrapped instead of being sold on for criminal purposes.

Victor

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Sale of cars to minors may be made an offence
From:ireland.com
Tuesday, 21st October, 2003

The Minister for Transport, Mr Brennan, is investigating the possibility of making the sale of "end-of-use" cars to minors a criminal offence.

The necessary legislation could be included in the proposed Road Traffic Amendment Bill scheduled to come before the Dáil next January, a spokesman for the Minister said yesterday.

The proposed action comes in the wake of the death on Friday night of two Co Clare friends, Lorna O'Mahony (13), and Stacey Haugh (16), both of Marian Estate, Kilkee, who lost their lives after a 15-year-old boy crashed a car into a seawall at the west Clare village of Carrigaholt.

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mike65

Good posting, Victor!

Mike.

Silvera

I agree with this move in general.
However, I hope that it is not taken to extremes and all old cars/NCT failures are required to be crushed.
Many of our current classic cars only survived because they were saved from the crusher.

gurramok

Presently I could walk 3 min up the road to a scrapyard and buy a banger of a car for €50 assuming I was a minor.
It happens alot where potential joyriders buy them so it would be harder for the gardai(when they exist) to prosecute them for stealing cars.
Most are driven around in enclosed fields (thank god & allah ) where they usually end up being burnt out hence polluting the environment.

But then again to be pessimistic....
if this new law was brought in, the joyriders would turn their attention to stealing cars from residents on a large scale rather than buying them. This would make among other things highly dangerous roads/high insurance costs.

Sorta catch22 situation, maybe education and a few years in the 'Joy might stop it

Analogy would be how to prevent minors getting their hands on drink/cigs. This area of the law is widely abused by greedy shopkeepers.
Guest onus should be on the seller to dispose to car properly at reasonable and fair cost. (ie..scrappage scheme)