Ireland: buck dumping ground?
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• Ireland is becoming a dumping ground for lorries and light vehicles which have failed their British annual vehicle tests, according to a member of the Republic's parliament.
Jackie Daly (Fine Gael) told the House of Representatives that high vehicle prices in Eire mean that thousands of used vehicles are being imported from the United Kingdom, especially Northern Ireland: 64% of these are over five years old and 45% are over seven years old.
Industry minister Denis Lyons said that the 12% failure rate for heavy goods vehicles, buses and ambulances was "not very reassuring", during a debate on the Republic's traffic laws.
Leo Keogh, chief executive of the Society of Irish Motor Industries, confirms that there has been a sharp increase in the import of commercial vehicles from the North over the past year, a large percentage of which are quite old.
The 6.5% excise tax on new vehicles in Ireland, and the fact that lorries in Britain depreciate faster because they travel more, means that Irish hauliers