Ford's Chairman and Managing Director, Eddie Murphy, has been appointed as President of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) and in his first address called for an amendment to the existing car registration system:
"Many car owners are driving cars with different county identifiers to the one they live in, usually because they bought the car second-hand. In Ireland, we all know that people are very proud of their county and many such people would be very happy to pay such a fee to get their own country registration on their car. This could provide €20-€30 million for the upkeep of roads."
Murphy also proposed that there should be a change to the overall car registration plate method:
"The current registration system causes seasonal problems. There needs to be a more even spread to the monthly registrations of new vehicles as the current system is too lop-sided and places too much strain on working capital and logistics in the first four months. Equally, a lot of dealerships face six months of losses in the second half."