Gormley admits conflict in roles

The Green Party leader announced this week that he was bringing forward plans to reduce motor tax on low-polluting cars in July so as not to penalise those who bought green at the start of the year.

He admitted yesterday that he was motivated because car-buyers were putting off purchases until the changes came into effect and local authority coffers were suffering as a result. 

"There is an inherent contradiction in my own role. I am Environment Minister and a minister for local Government. As the former I want to see more and more people using cars less. However, as minister for local Government, I am responsible for bringing in funding for local Government, which is road tax," he said on RTÉ Radio.

"We discovered that people were actually changing their behaviour quite dramatically. There was a real fear there that local Government funding was going to be down quite substantially and vehicle registration tax was going to be down quite substantially."

Mr Gormley said he found his dual role "very difficult and very complex" but he insisted he was still committed to taking cars off the roads.

Caroline O'Doherty
© Irish Examiner 1.03.08