Mr. Harry Lee:

Senator O'Sullivan asked about the definition of "write-off". It is a financial term. In my opinion, it has nothing to do with the motor industry. It gives no indication of the damage caused to a vehicle and therefore no indication of the repairs needed to return the vehicle to the road.

When I began working on this four years ago, I asked people both inside and outside the industry their understanding of the term "write-off" and the majority of them, including, sadly, many within the industry, believed that the term "write-off" meant that it was very badly damaged in regard to structure and chassis damage and therefore should not go back on the road, but it has nothing to do with the damage. It only has to do with cost. There are cases where vehicles are write-offs and they are still roadworthy. That is in contrast to the belief that they are not, and it is one of the reasons I believe we need to change our terminology and our categories so that we have categories that reflect the damage and therefore reflect the repairs that are necessary to make these cars safe again. Just because a vehicle is badly damaged does not mean it cannot be repaired. Vehicles are designed to be repaired in many cases. We just need an infrastructure in place that allows them to be repaired correctly and the correct documentation stating that the vehicle has been repaired correctly and is safe to go back on the road.

On the 10%, which is one of the figures for the imports from the United Kingdom, which are write-offs, that is not necessarily an issue but because there is no paper trail in terms of documentation, I believe it is open for the vehicles that are not safe to come into the country. They should not be brought in and we need some mechanism in place that stops that happening. I believe all vehicles that are imported should be tested. Ms Verona Murphy has just informed me that all commercial vehicles that are imported are tested. We should be looking at that for non-commercial vehicles. I believe the Road Safety Authority, RSA, through the national car test, NCT, would have a big part to play in that regard.

Regarding documentation for write-offs, there is some documentation but there are no set rules. When there is documentation on vehicles being repaired, much of it is private. It is my opinion, based on my experience, that should be public. If an engineer goes out and inspects a vehicle, there should be a report that follows that vehicle, especially when it is a write-off. Even if it is still an economic repair but there are safety and structural repairs, there should be a vehicle report that goes with that vehicle. When it is ready to go back on the road, therefore, the person who will sign off on that, whether it is someone like myself as an assessor or somebody in the garage, the insurance company, the fleet company, will have something to refer back to, but there is no paper trail. There are issues with data protection. What I am talking about is just a report on the vehicle and the damage. I believe if one of them is designed and brought in as the rule for everything, it sets a high standard in terms of repairing vehicles and getting them back on the road. That would go a long way to ensuring that our cars are safe.