Mr. Eoin Gavin:

European legislation states that commercial vehicles - trucks, trailers, vans, jeeps and so forth - must be tested annually. The testing system is operated on the basis of legislation and we have no problem with the law. The RSA was concerned about the fact that vehicles were not being tested on the public road. The new system put in place by the authority imposes a financial penalty on those who do not test their vehicles within a 12 month birth-date period. In the UK, for example, if a test is carried out on 1 January, the vehicle is not tested again until December, regardless of what happens prior to that date. The RSA has said that if a vehicle due for testing in January is not produced until July, it will only be given a six-month test and the owner pays for the full year that he or she missed. Approximately 30% of our vehicles are not on the road at any given time. They are either sitting in forecourts or elsewhere. They tried the birth-date system in the UK seven or eight years ago but it did not work. It is very convoluted. The Minister has granted a derogation up to 7 October while the review of the RSA testing procedures is taking place. In that sense, the Department has acknowledged that there is a problem. We would like, through this committee, to feed into the review in October and to indicate to the Department that the system does not make either economic or practical sense. Enforcement needs to happen through Garda checkpoints and RSA spot checks, with very severe penalties. Why penalise somebody who is bringing a vehicle for testing and who genuinely had that vehicle off the road because of lack of work? That is the approach we would like to see taken.