Pearce Flannery of automotive consultancy Pragmatica has slammed successive governments for what he termed ‘Systematic Governmental Neglect’ of the motor industry in Ireland.

He was critical of the present situation in the Irish motor industry where over 50,000 used cars are imported annually into Ireland creating what he termed a parallel illegitimate industry that has developed alongside the legitimate automotive sector.

He claims that this development has been fostered by the apparent apathy of successive governments coupled with the lack of sufficient regulation. He said that it has placed the entire industry at risk whilst simultaneously raising serious issues for road safety, consumer protection, employment and paradoxically revenue generation for the government.

“Used cars of highly questionable provenance and quality are being imported commercially by unscrupulous operators and roadside traders. These fly by night operators provide absolutely no back up service or support to their customers, very often they have disappeared into the mist when the consumer goes looking for support. In addition to this the requisite duties are not being paid leading to a massive shortfall in the Governmental tax take as well as threatening hundreds of jobs in legitimate Irish motor companies.” he said.

Flannery continued: “These cars many of which would have highly questionable history and mileage may have been stolen or written off in the past and exported to Ireland; which has become little more than a dumping ground for unwanted and unsafe vehicles from Britain”. 

According to Dept of Environment figures 50,011 imported used cars were registered in Ireland in 2006 with an 8.8 per cent increase on this figure to June 2007. This figure does not take into account unregistered and unsold cars so the real figure is likely to be vastly in excess of the official statistic.

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