Gardaí and council staff in Co Louth are calling for funding for a secure compound so they can do more to prevent accidents caused by so-called "company" cars.
Hundreds more rundown cars without insurance or tax would be seized and impounded if there was somewhere to put them, local gardaí say. Such cars can be bought in Northern Ireland for as little as €75 and have been involved in a number of fatal accidents in the county.
"There is a major storage problem in this area," said one Garda source.
Although gardaí have powers under the Road Traffic Act to seize any vehicle they believe is not roadworthy or is not taxed or insured, that vehicle must then be properly disposed of.
"Company" cars are not often claimed back by their usually teenage owners, and as a result the responsibility and the cost of their disposal fall to the local authority.
When gardaí seize a vehicle, private companies get paid around €150 by the State to remove them to the Garda yard where the majority stay.
Council sources say that, even if a compound were provided by the council, any fees for getting cars out of it would go to the Garda authorities. Funding issues meant "tentative talks" between both came to nothing.
It costs up to €700 for the council to dispose of each car, but in recent weeks Louth County Council has successfully prosecuted registered owners of cars under the Waste Management Act for abandoning them.
A spokesman for the Department of the Environment and Local Government said it had no plans to provide such compounds or funding to operate them.