Mr. Brendan Walsh:

The Deputy has mentioned an issue that is very close to my own heart. The retest can be carried out in 60 seconds whereby one checks, say, that the tail lights have been replaced and a pass certificate is awarded so people can move on. A retest does not take up a lane per se. I would love to see vehicles being presented for testing having a very high pass rate because it would mean that the vehicles had been maintained properly using local mechanics or whatever was needed had been done to maintain the vehicles in a safe condition. I worked as a mechanic a very long time ago so I saw that when the NCT was introduced many people used it as a way to assess what had to be repaired and then brought their vehicles to workshops and finally submitted the vehicles for a retest and, unfortunately, that culture still exists. As part of my new role within the RSA I will seek to improve that situation. We must educate consumers about the benefits of maintaining their vehicles before bringing them for an NCT because it will help us from a capacity perspective but it will also ensure that there is a higher number of vehicles operating to a higher standard than what is required by the NCT thus ensuring we have proper, safe vehicles being driven around the country.