Just €49m for roads as €129m paid in tax

Cork motorists paid out €129m in motor vehicle tax last year, but the county council received just a fraction of that to maintain 11,000km of roads.

Councillors — angry with just a €49m allocation for roads — are calling on the Department of Transport to publish a list of every county’s road tax contribution, as well as the respective allocation for road maintenance.

The county council also processes the vehicle tax for the city council and hands the cash directly to central government. It is not reimbursed for the wages of its motor tax staff.