Proposals to restrict the opportunities for young people to buy cheap cars, which may have failed the National Car Test (NCT), were rejected by the Minister for Transport Mr Brennan, earlier this year.
The rejection followed a proposal to apply penalty points to owners who cannot demonstrate they have disposed of their vehicles responsibly, submitted to Mr Brennan by Cork County Council, after a unanimous vote of its members in February.
The motion was tabled by Fine Gael councillor Mr Gerry Kelly, who said yesterday it was aimed at avoiding "exactly the kind of tragic crash which resulted in the loss of life in Co Clare at the weekend".
Two schoolgirls, 13-year-old Lorna O'Mahony of Marian Estate, Kilkee, and Stacey Haugh (16) of Marian Estate, Kilkee, were killed and three teenage boys were injured when the car in which they were travelling hit a wall at Carrigaholt, near Kilikee on Friday night. The car, a 1984 Opel Kadett, had allegedly been bought for €150 earlier that day in Galway.
Gardaí are tomorrow to interview the 15-year-old driver of the car, who was yesterday described as "comfortable" at Ennis General Hospital. The two other occupants of the car were a second 15-year-old boy and an 11-year-old, Karl Haugh, Stacey's younger brother.
A spokeswoman at Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children in Dublin said that Karl was "stable" yesterday after undergoing surgery, while the second 15-year-old was described as "comfortable" at Ennis General. The two girls were pronounced dead at the scene.
Last night, hundreds of mourners attended the removal of Lorna O'Mahony from her home, while earlier yesterday parish priest Father Donogh O'Meara asked parishioners to pray for the girls and Karl at Masses at the seaside resort. Her funeral is to take place in Kilkee later today, while Stacey Haugh will be buried tomorrow.
Cork County Council wrote to the Minister on February 28th and received a reply from his office dated April 4th last. The letter noted penalty points were broadly for "moving offences" and referred the council to the Waste Management Act in regard to end-of-use vehicles.
The reply from Mr Brennan's Department added: "You may be interested to know that proposals are being developed in the context of waste management policy to tackle the problem that you have raised - Mr Martin Cullen TD, Minister for the Environment and Local Government is considering introducing 'end of life' levies to encourage car owners to avail of scrappage and discourage illegal disposal of vehicles that are no longer roadworthy."
Mr Kelly told The Irish Times he was disappointed the Minister for Transport seemed to view the issue simply as an environmental one, rather than consider the safety implications of the move.
"If you are disposing of a car and you are likely to face penalty points unless you can produce a disposal certificate, I think you would be very careful about who you sell it to", said the councillor. However a spokesman for Mr Brennan said yesterday that the proposal would be difficult to implement. "There is no restriction on people selling cars. Up and down this country you see cars for sale at the side of the road, for a few hundred euro and anyone can buy them. Anybody selling them is presumably acting within the law. It would be hard to see how you would change that."