Gormley dismisses road tax row

Occasional use of commercially registered vehicles, to bring children to school, travel to church or transport groceries should not bring motorists into conflict with the law, the Minister for the Environment insisted today.

The department issued a circular reminding motor tax officers of the obligation for commercial vehicle owners to sign a declaration that the vehicle would not be used for social domestic or pleasure purposes.

John Gormley said he himself had in the past been conveyed in commercially registered van, driven by Green Party colleague and Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan.

" I think we need to use our discretion here," he said. "Clearly the guards have better things to be doing than telling someone [they are breaking the law] if they are bringing a kid to school in a van."

Mr Gormley said he did not think there would be a problem if a commercial vehicle was used primarily for commercial premises, and occasionally used for family purposes.

The Minister said the circular had been issued by an assistant principal officer in his department. "It came to her attention - and she acted quite properly - that there was evidence that people were taxing their cars in this way".

He told RTÉ's Today with Pat Kenny: "There has been no new legislation. No new regulations. No new initiative by a minister or the Green Party".

Mr Gormley also described the controversy as a "bottle of smoke" and "just complete nonsense".

Separating occasional domestic use of commercial vehicles by farmers and small traders from private owners who seek to switch the tax classification of "large jeeps", Mr Gormley added: "It is nothing to do with people doing things fairly. It is to try and catch people who are doing things unfairly".

Asked if the Minister was now suggesting the gardaí should turn a blind eye to the social domestic and pleasure uses of small commercial vans, a spokesman for Mr Gormley said he had made no suggestions for any change in Garda attitude. He pointed out the current legislation was at least 18 years old, while some of it dated to the 1920s. Enforcement was entirely a matter for the gardai and the Minister for Justice.

As far as Mr Gormley was concerned, it was "business as usual", the spokesman said.