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You are > Home > Road tax and pensions: a win, win situation?
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Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Road tax and pensions: a win, win situation?
BY PAUL CLAFFEY
LAST week we were taking a lot of calls at the radio station about the NCT.
It’s one of those old chestnuts that rears its head every now and again and in this instance, there appeared to be a lot of confusion about the fact that if you are waiting any longer than four weeks from the day you booked your test to when your vehicle was put through the system, you are entitled to a free NCT.
The Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony had discovered this information on the NCT’s own website whereby it states in their customer charter that the NCT aims to ensure that an average lead time for an appointment at an individual test centre is less than three weeks with a free test if this is greater than four weeks.
Deputy O’Mahony concedes that the wording is slightly ambiguous but he feels clear that when a driver is booking a test and can’t be given one within four weeks, they are entitled to a free test. He backed all of this up when he joined me on the programme last Wednesday and said that he too had been taking a lot of calls from his constituents about this very issue, hence the reason he started checking into it in the first place.
It’s advisable to make contact with the NCT to find out more about your rights in relation to this important matter, particularly if you are one of those motorists who have been waiting more than the required four weeks.
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IT seems to me the media, when it swings into full action, is a very powerful force indeed and we certainly witnessed its affects on a national scale last week when EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan-Quinn handed back her €108,000 a year ministerial and TD pension after she was pursued for three or four days by journalists.
Her action provoked a whole raft of other high profile TD’s, MEP’s and an ex-Taoiseach to follow her lead and also hand back their pensions, which in some cases were very substantial considering that they are still earning what would be judged by any standard as very good wages beside. I’m sure in lots of their cases it was a very bitter pill to swallow and for some, despite the high earnings, it may have been money that they needed.
They too are rearing families, servicing mortgages and doing their best to live like the rest of us. Granted there are a lot worse off than them out there, but nevertheless for many, it’s a big hit financially in their pockets.
These are the times we are living in, even though there continues to be very small signs of recovery in our economy with exports growing again in the last quarter for the fifth successive period, we are still in deep recession and jobs continue to be lost by the day.
Politicians not alone have to be seen to be doing something about this, they have to lead by example, you cannot be expecting members of the public to take wage cuts and tighten their belts at least once a year for the last couple of years without them too having to feel the pain.
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