by Liam Porter, Inishowen Independent
ANGRY motorists from Inishowen have slammed
arrangements for paying Vehicle Registration Tax at
the offices in Donegal Town claiming many people are
being turned away because staff at the office are
unable to cope.
Following a much-publicised blitz in recent weeks by
custom officials that saw several vehicles seized,
many motorists from the peninsula made attempts to
ensure the VRT on their vehicles is fully paid,
However several irate motorists who contact the
Inishowen Independent yesterday insisted that the
arrangements in place at the Donegal Town office
would do little to entice motorists to pay their VRT.
It is understood that the volume of people looking
to pay VRT has caused lengthy queues at the Donegal
Town offices and some people arriving to pay their
VRT in the afternoon have been turned away and asked
to return the following day.
An 'outraged' Senator Cecilia Keaveney who has
called for VRT offices to be established in Bridgend
and Letterkenny described the current situation as
‘unacceptable.’
“There is no doubt that the situation as it exists
at present is completely unacceptable. I was opposed
to the removal of the office from Lifford to Donegal
Town in the first place but what has happened now
makes no sense.”
The Fianna Fail Senator insisted that when a blitz
like the one seen recently in Donegal was planned,
measures should have been put in place to deal with
the aftermath.
“It seems logical that if the blitz was designed to
raise public awareness and get people to pay their
VRT then a plan should have been in place to ensure
that when people did come they could actually pay.”
Instead, the Senator said, people who were trying to
do the right thing and pay the VRT were being
treated badly and left disillusioned.
"Last week I received a response from the Revenue,
via the Minister to explain the economics of
centralising the VRT service in Donegal Town.
(Revenue) explained the weakness in, for example,
the car parking available at Bridgend and
Letterkenny," said Senator Keaveney. "There were
staffing issues raised also. I immediately rejected
this response in this climate of a VRT blitz in the
same manner I rejected the concept of centralising
from Lifford to Donegal Town when I first heard it."
Senator Keaveney urged motorists to contact her
office if they felt annoyed by the way they have
been treated.
“The more cases I have to put to the Minister the
better chances there will be of getting the matter
resolved,” she said.
(Inishowen Independent) |
